Wilson Leung's article analyses the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal’s judgment in Fong Chak Kwan v Ascentic Ltd (2022) 25 HKCFAR 135, where Lord Collins of Mapesbury considered the meaning of “damage” in the tort gateway for service out of the jurisdiction. Lord Collins adopted a wide meaning of “damage”, which includes all direct, indirect, and consequential damage flowing from the tort, and rejected a narrow interpretation that limits it to damage which completes the cause of action. In doing so, Lord Collins endorsed the majority judgments in the UK Supreme Court cases of Brownlie v Four Seasons Holdings Inc [2017] UKSC 80 and Brownlie v FS Cairo (Nile Plaza) LLC [2021] UKSC 45. Importantly, Lord Collins gave additional reasons for favouring the wide interpretation of the tort gateway, which are likely to have significant implications for the courts’ future interpretations of the other gateways.

This article was first published in ThoughtLeaders4 Disputes Magazine.

To read Wilson’s article, please click here.