JONATHAN LU AND OTHERS v. PAUL CHAN MO PO AND ANOTHER

FAMV No. 22 of 2017

IN THE COURT OF FINAL APPEAL OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

MISCELLANEOUS PROCEEDINGS NO. 22 OF 2017 (CIVIL)

(ON APPLICATION FOR LEAVE TO APPEAL

FROM CACV NO. 252 OF 2015)

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DETERMINATION

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The Appeal Committee:

1.  Leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal is granted to the Applicants under s.22(1)(b) of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance, Cap 484 on the following question of great general or public importance:

What is the proper legal approach to the issue of malice to defeat a defence of qualified privilege, with particular emphasis on the treatment of the mental state or belief on the part of the party who has allegedly made the defamatory statement?

2.  Leave to appeal is also granted on the “or otherwise” ground, namely:

In the event of the Court of Appeal was right to hold that the summing up in the Court of First Instance was in error, whether a retrial should have been ordered.

3.  The appeal will be heard on 6 and 7 March 2018.

Mr Andrew Caldecott QC, Mr Gerard McCoy SC and Mr Lawrence K F Ng, instructed by Norton Rose Fulbright Hong Kong, for the 1^st – 3^rd Plaintiffs (Applicants)

Mr Benjamin Yu SC and Ms Queenie Lau, instructed by Deacons, for the 1^st – 2^nd Defendants (Respondents)