In Tam Sze Leung & Ors v Commissioner of Police [2021] HKCFI 3118, the Court of First Instance found the longstanding practice of the Hong Kong Police in effecting an informal freeze against bank accounts through the use of “letters of no consent” (the No Consent Regime) to be unconstitutional. The No Consent Regime as operated … Read more

In the recent case of A1 and Another v. R1 and Others [2021] HKCFI 650, the Court of First Instance has, for the first time in a reported Hong Kong judgment, granted a Norwich Pharmacal order for disclosure relating to bank accounts held in overseas branches of banks incorporated in Hong Kong. Herbert Smith Freehills … Read more

The recent case of AB Club Ltd & Anors v Chan Yin Ki Cubie & Anors [2020] HKCFI 2769 reinforces the need for speed when seeking to enforce post-employment covenants. Any undue delay, even if only a matter of weeks, may mean a Court refuses to grant an interim injunction. Read more

In a recent ground-breaking decision, the Hong Kong Court of First Instance sanctioned a new mode of ordinary service of court documents.  Coleman J held that any document, as long as it is not an originating process or one required to be served personally, may be served by access to an online data room with … Read more

In SS Precast Sdn Bhd v Serba Dinamik Group Bhd & Ors (Civil Suit No. BA-22C-6-03), the High Court considered the validity of the remote hearing of three applications conducted through Skype during the enforcement of Malaysia’s Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures Within Infected Local Areas) Regulations 2020 (“Movement Control Order”). The decision … Read more

In the first half of 2019, Malaysia’s Court of Appeal considered no less than four appeals relating to applications to restrain the calling of performance bonds in the construction sector. These applications were made in support of arbitration under Section 11(1)(f) and (h) of the Malaysian Arbitration Act 2005 (“Act”) (prior to its amendments in … Read more

  As part of the Legislative Council’s Information Technology Strategy Plan, The Court Proceedings (Electronic Technology) Bill (Bill), which was gazetted on 27 December 2019 and passed through the First Reading stage on 8 January 2020, takes the Hong Kong courts a step closer to being paperless. The Bill facilitates the filing and sending of … Read more

In Jaks Island Circle Sdn Bhd v Star Media Group Bhd and Another (Originating Summons No. WA-24C(ARB)-11-02/2018), the Malaysian High Court considered whether an inquiry of damages arising out of an undertaking by an applicant to pay damages for an injunction wrongly granted by a court in support of arbitration proceedings should await the outcome … Read more