UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

LAW: LAW OF TORT I AND II (LLAW 1005 AND 1006)

14 May, 2022 Time: 2:30 pm – 5:30 pm

8 pages, 5 questions

Answer THREE Questions

All questions carry equal weight

Answer One Question from Part A

and
Two Questions from Part B

The examination consists of South China Morning Post news reports. The
stories in the news reports are likely to have been reported in other newspapers.
You may have read them. Those reports may have provided additional
information. However, for the purposes of this examination you must confine
your analysis to the facts as reported in the news reports provided here. Do not
import additional facts or materials from other sources.

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 Part A

Answer One Question from Part A

Question One

The following was reported in the South China Morning Post on 29August, 2017.

Elderly man dies after slab of cement falls on him from Hong Kong building

Clifford Lo

An elderly man died after being hit by a slab of tiles and cement that fell from a Hong Kong
office block on Tuesday. The incident took place in an alley outside Lai Sun Commercial
Centre off Cheung Sha Wan Road, near the junction with Kwong Cheung Street, in Cheung
Sha Wan soon after 10.30am, police said.

The victim was identified as Zhu Donghui, 69. He was taken unconscious to Princess
Margaret Hospital in Lai Chi Kok, where he was later certified dead.

Zhu had been working with four colleagues in the alley when the slab fell. It was understood
they were installing steel panels on the ground floor of the outer wall of an adjacent building
under construction.

According to police, the other four workers were about two metres away from the victim at
the time. Although they were unhurt in the incident, one of them, identified as Chen Ho, was
taken to Princess Margaret Hospital suffering from shock.

“After being struck over the head, the victim collapsed on the floor, vomited blood and then
fell unconscious at the scene,” a police source said. “The slab broke into pieces.” He believed
the 4cm-thick slab measured about 90cm by 120cm.

“Initial investigations showed the slab peeled off from the outer wall on the fifth floor of Lai
Sun Commercial Centre, fell down and struck the victim,” he said. He said officers were
investigating why it broke off. The source said police would investigate when the outer wall
was last inspected and repaired as part of their investigation.

Police suspect Zhu, a mainlander, may have been working illegally on the site. It was
understood that his children, who live on the mainland, were on the way to Hong Kong after
learning of the tragedy. A spokesman for the contractor employing Zhu claimed it was not
aware of Zhu’s immigration status.

The Lai Sun Commercial Centre’s property manager was arrested on Tuesday afternoon on
suspicion of allowing an object to fall from a height, police said. By 6pm, the property
manager, 46, was being held for questioning at Sham Shui Po police station and had not been

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charged. He was released on bail later that evening and must report back to police later this
month.

The Labour Department said it had sent staff to the scene upon receiving an accident report.

The alley was cordoned off last night for officers from the Buildings Department to carry out
a thorough inspection, and the owner will be ordered to carry out a thorough inspection of the
wall.

Lai Sun Group said in a statement that it was profoundly saddened by the loss of life and the
distress suffered by the family – who will be offered a relief payment. It said there used to be
a canopy over the alley but it was removed temporarily to make room for a gondola which
would be installed for a project on the neighbouring building. And it believed the fallen wall
tiling might be related to the two recent typhoons.

Q. Your legal advice is sought on tort actions and remedies arising out of the events
described in the news report. Provide a full analysis with reference to all of the relevant
facts, and with reference to relevant authorities.
[You do not need to consider limitations. You can assume that a writ was filed before
the expiry of the limitation period.]

Question Two

The following is an edited version of news reports published in the South China Morning
Post and Mingpao on 8 Dec, 2015.

Hong Kong man, 68, dies after trying to walk up to 21st-floor office in Mong Kok

Danny Mok and Clifford Lo

A 68-year-old man died in hospital yesterday after collapsing as he attempted to walk up to

his office on the 21st floor of a Mong Kok commercial building, with all four lifts out of
order.

A witness said the man was found sitting on the floor and struggling for breath around the
15th floor of Ho King Commercial Building in Fa Yuen Street at 1.45pm. He passed out and
was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital after being carried downstairs by ambulance crew and
firemen, but was declared dead.

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The man, surnamed Hung, was said to have a history of high blood pressure, Ming Pao Daily
reported on Tuesday. Hung was soon to retire but decided to go back to his office to tidy up
documents on Monday, according to his wife.
A notice posted in the lift lobby by Good System Management Ltd, who manages the Ho
King building, said all four elevators had been suspended due to flooding on November 28,
and that people working in the building were to use the staircases. Good System Management
Ltd said someone had opened the building’s fire hose system, causing water to flood the four
lifts and damaging their electrical components. It was not known who opened the fire hose
system or whether the damage was deliberate.

Good System apologized for the lift contractor’s delay in repairs. As of Monday night one of
the lifts had been repaired and was undergoing tests. It was scheduled to resume service on
Tuesday morning.

Q. Your legal advice is sought on tort actions and remedies arising out of the events
described in the news report. Provide a full analysis with reference to all of the relevant
facts, and with reference to relevant authorities.
[You do not need to consider limitations. You can assume that a writ was filed before
the expiry of the limitation period. You can also assume that the person who opened the
fire hose system has since been identified.]

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 Part B
Answer Two Questions from Part B
Question Three

The following was reported in the South China Morning Post on 12 May, 2020.

Policeman draws gun to stop knife-wielding man chasing debt collector through Hong
Kong housing estate

Clifford Lo

A knife-wielding man chasing a masked debt collector through a Hong Kong public housing
estate only stopped when a police officer pointed a gun at him, the force said on Tuesday.
According to police, the debt collector poured red paint on the doorway of a flat in Sau Ching
House, in Sau Mau Ping Estate, Kwun Tong, shortly before 8.30pm on Monday, where the
56-year-old man and his wife were having dinner.

The incident is believed to be related to a HK$30,000 debt that the man’s stepdaughter owed,
and she was not in at the time, a source said. Police said the wooden door to the flat was open
and the man’s wife was splashed with paint, causing the debt collector to flee.

According to police, the debt collector was dressed in black, and wearing a face mask and
cap. The debt collector is believed to be a local man in his 20s.

The man called police, then picked up a 25cm-long meat cleaver and chased the debt
collector until he lost sight of him. Officers in a patrol car found the man holding the knife
outside Sau Wai House in the same estate.

“Despite repeated warnings from the police to drop his knife, the man refused, until a police
sergeant drew his revolver,” a police source said. “The man eventually put down his knife
and was arrested and taken into police custody.”

As of 12pm on Tuesday, the knife-wielding man, later identified as Tam, was still being held
for questioning. He had not been charged.

[Note that according to a later news report Tam’s stepdaughter was being treated in hospital
for shock.]

Q. Your legal advice is sought on tort actions and remedies arising out of the events

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described in the news report. Provide a full analysis with reference to all of the relevant
facts, and with reference to relevant authorities.
Question Four

The following was reported in the South China Morning Post in two articles in June 2021.

Residents and commuters complain of ‘scorching smell’ from Hong Kong recycling fire

Chan H-him

A fire that broke out early Tuesday morning at a scrap metal recycling site in Hong Kong’s
Kwai Tsing district left some local residents complaining of a “scorching smell” as smoke
drifted through their neighbourhoods over the course of five hours. The No 2 alarm fire
started at 5.38 am at the site on Tsing Yi Road in Tsing Yi South, according to the Fire
Services Department. A department spokeswoman said the affected area measured about 100
metres by 200 metres. Firefighters used one water cannon and mobilised one breathing
apparatus team to fight the blaze.

The Environmental Protection Department said that air quality data collected at the city’s
monitoring station in Tsuen Wan showed the smoke created an increase in respiratory
suspended particulate levels. According to the government’s air quality health index, the
PM10 (or particulate matter) pollution levels rose from 22.4 at 6am to 43.5 at 8am in Tsuen
Wan. In nearby Kwai Chung, it jumped from 29.8 at 6am to 33.3 at 10am.

While the fire was still burning, the department urged residents in Tsuen Wan, Tsing Yi and
Kwai Chung districts who might be affected by the smoke to “close their doors and windows
and stay calm”. The smoke was described by one resident as “very serious, leaving deposits
of soot on windows and walls.”

Kwai Tsing district councillor Sin Ho-fai said he received more than 10 complaints from
residents and commuters, with many complaining of headaches and sore throat. Among those
affected was a woman, 73, who only gave her name as Chui. She went to the hospital on
Thursday morning after suffering from a dry throat. The retiree who lives alone agreed the
government should have given more advice on the fire. “I was worried I might suffocate to
death without anyone noticing,” she said.

Q. Your legal advice is sought on tort actions that can be brought arising out of the
events described in the news report, and the remedies available. Provide a full analysis
with reference to all of the relevant facts, and with reference to relevant authorities.

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Question Five

The following was reported in the South China Morning Post on 18 and 19 September, 2017.

Pan-democrats blast Junius Ho for saying independence activists should be ‘killed

mercilessly’

Tony Cheung

Hong Kong’s pan-democrats have “strongly condemned” pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho

Kwan-yiu over claims made by Ho on Sunday that pro-independence activists should be
“killed mercilessly”.

The pan-democrats were infuriated by the remarks of Ho, a former president of the Law
Society, made at a rally on Sunday. The event was attended by thousands demanding that the
University of Hong Kong sack Occupy Central co-founder Benny Tai Yiu-ting, whom they
claimed should be blamed for the social unrest and pro-independence sentiment in recent
years.

During the rally, Yuen Long district councillor Tsang Shu-wo warned on stage that no one
should advocate Hong Kong’s independence from China. “If he advocates Hong Kong
independence, he’s not Chinese, he’s an outsider and must be killed,” Tsang said. If Hong
Kong independence advocates are subverting the fate of a country ... why not kill them?

In response, Ho, who was among a group of pro-Beijing activists standing with Tsang on the
stage, chanted: “No mercy!”

After the rally, Ho accused the media of taking his words out of context when asked if it was
unlawful to advocate “merciless killing”. “If Hong Kong independence advocates are
subverting the fate of a country ... why not kill them?” Ho asked. “‘To kill them without
mercy’ means we deplore wrongdoers like our enemies.”

In a statement, 22 pan-democratic lawmakers said Ho, as a legislator and lawyer, had “gone
beyond the bottom line of freedom of speech and morals”. We strongly condemn his cold-

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blooded speech, as it advocated direct violence and allegedly broke the law,” the statement
read.

The pan-democrats added that according to the Public Order Ordinance, it is a criminal
offence for any person to “use threatening, abusive or insulting words” in public and with
intent to provoke a breach of the peace. It was also a criminal offence for anyone to make any
public statement “which is likely to incite or induce any person to kill or do physical injury to
anyone else”.

“The police had arrested people who use hate speech in the past. Ho has broken the law and
the police and the Department of Justice should take action,” the statement added.

In a 700-character Facebook post put out at 2am on Tuesday, Ho lashed out at his critics for
having a poor grasp of the Chinese language arguing the “kill” used by him and participants
at a rally on Sunday was, in fact, its homonym for “halt”. He denied he had tried to incite any
sort of violence.

“The word kill was directed at advocates of the Hong Kong independence movement and the
need to halt their lawbreaking expressions,” Ho wrote. “To condemn me for inciting hate
speech and [threatening to] report to the police is simply absurd.

“I won’t even go into how bankrupt their personalities and despicable their style of work are,
among other problems, but I can’t believe their level of Chinese and comprehension, can be
so bad!”

Q. You are asked to provide legal advice regarding defamation actions arising on these
facts, and the remedies available. Provide a full analysis with reference to all of the
relevant facts, and with reference to relevant authorities.

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End of Examination