SCHOOL OF LAW

LW5603
Law of Tort

Course Manual
Semester B, 2017/18

Course Instructor(s):
Sara Tsui
Fozia Lone

1
 City University of Hong Kong

Information on a Course
Semester B in 2017 / 2018

Part I

Course Title: Law of Tort

Course Code: LW5603

Course Duration: One Semester

No. of Credit Units: 3

Level: P5

Medium of Instruction: English

Pre-requisites: Nil

Pre-cursors: Nil

Equivalent Courses: LW2103 Law of Tort (LLB) (from the old curriculum)

LW2103A Law of Tort (AMLLB) (from the old curriculum)

LW2603 Law of Tort (LLB)

LW2603A and LW2603B (LLB) (must have completed both components)

Exclusive Courses: Nil

2
Part II

Course aims

This course aims to: –

 examines the nature, scope and objectives of tort law and its interception with other fields of law
such as contract and criminal law
 encourage students to discover the meaning and purpose of tort law, its origins, development
and limitations and some of its major issues
 equip students with a sound knowledge of the substantive rules of tort law
 develops students’:
o research skills
o analytical and problem-solving skills
o effective written and oral communication skills
o presentation skills and the abilities to express ideas
in relation to issues in tort law
 develops an awareness of the social context in which the rules of tort law operate
 introduce basic practical skills and develop students’ ability to advise and present innovatively on
issues of liability in tort.

Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs)

(state what the student is expected to be able to do at the end of the course according to a given standard of performance)

Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

No. CILOs Weighting

(if
applicable)
1.  Analytically and critically describe and explain the main substantive
rules of tort law pertaining to the topics to be covered in the syllabus.
2.  Analyse and critically evaluate:
 issues and concerns in the field of tort law
 the operation of the substantive rules of tort law:
o in terms of the objectives of tort law and the practical
implications of the rules
o their social contexts and real life situations
o in relation to the law of contract.
3.  Apply the principles of tort law to solve legal problems by:
 researching issues of tort law and developing research skills
 discover the issues and problems
 analysing and resolving problems concerning issues of tort law
within the social context
 communicating their innovated solutions by writing clearly,
coherently and accurately in their own words and in plain language.
4.  Develop a strong ability and innovate way to lead a discussion in tort
law and an awareness to discover the skills in advising in terms of tort
law.

3
Alignment of CILOs with PILOs (Please do the alignment between PILOs and CILOs.)

Programme Intended Learning Outcomes (PILOs) CILOs

1 Explain and assess specified areas of the law and legal system of Hong 1,2,3,4
Kong, with particular emphasis on the law in action and the dynamic
interplay between law and other social phenomena.
2 Assess the common law system and its values, and its interaction with the
law of China, the East Asian region and the wider world.
3 Explain, interpret and apply main principles of ethics, civil duty, and social 1,2,3,4
and professional responsibility.
4 Critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of law as a means of 2
regulating society in the context of competing and conflicting interests.
5 Demonstrate and apply skills of legal analysis and reasoning, skills of legal 2,3
research, and skills of oral and written expression appropriate to the practice
of Hong Kong and Chinese law, to a level appropriate to a graduate-entry
degree in law.

Teaching and Learning Activities (TLAs)

(Indicative of likely activities and tasks designed to facilitate students’ achievement of the CILOs. Final details will be provided
to students in their first week of attendance in this course)

CILO No. TLAs Hours/week

(if applicable)
CILO 1 Reading of cases and other material, and development in the skill of
research
 Students will acquire knowledge of the substantive rules of tort
law pertaining to the topics to be covered in the syllabus.
 Preparation outside the class
Lectures
 Students will be given guidance on their reading and research for
their lectures and tutorials.
 Students will, by responding to questions and performing
exercises, develop their analytical and critical capabilities, and
discover important issues of liability pertaining to topics covered
in the syllabus.
CILO 2 Lectures
 Students will be introduced to issues and concerns and aspects of
the operation of the substantive rules of tort law.
Preparation for tutorials
 Students will research issues of tort law.
Tutorials
 Students will be given topics in which they will scrutinise,
analyse and evaluate issues and concerns in the field of tort law
and provide innovated written answers.
CILO 3 Lectures
 Students will be shown how legal problems are solved in real life
situations by applying tort law.
Preparation for tutorials
 Students will discover by researching on issues of tort law.
Tutorials
 Students will be given selected topics in which they will
scrutinise, analyse and evaluate issues and concerns in the field of
tort law with written answers.
 Students will develop a habit of research.
CILO4 Reading of cases and other material and research
 Students will acquire knowledge of the substantive rules of tort
law pertaining to the topics to be covered in the syllabus.
Lectures

4
CILO No. TLAs Hours/week
(if applicable)
 Students will be expected to understand the principle, and be able
to explain to his/her peers substantive rules of tort law using
his/her own examples.
Preparation for tutorials
 Students will research issues of tort law and prepare the format of
the tutorial.
Tutorials
 Students will be given selected topics in which they will
scrutinise, analyse and evaluate issues and concerns in the field of
tort law.
 Students will lead and be responsible for tutorial class and
generate innovative discussions in the field of tort law.

Assessment Tasks/Activities
(Indicative of likely activities and tasks designed to assess how well the students achieve the CILOs. Final details will be
provided to students in their first week of attendance in this course)

CILO No. Type of Assessment Tasks/Activities Weighting Remarks

(if
applicable)
CILO 1 End-of-course examination (50% of marks) Students’ ability
In class assessment (30% of marks) to analyse and
critically
Assignment/s (20% of marks) evaluate will be
 Students’ ability to describe and explain the main tested by all
substantive rules of tort law on topics covered in three assessment
tasks/activities
the syllabus will be tested by all three assessment to determine
tasks/activities. their ability to
apply the law to
a given fact
situation.
CILO 2 End-of-course examination Students’ ability
Tutorials to challenge,
discover,
Assignment/s research, analyse
 Students’ ability to analyse and critically evaluate and resolve
will be tested by all three assessment problems and
communicate
tasks/activities to determine their ability to apply solutions in
the law to a given fact situation writing will be
tested.
CILO 3 End-of-course examination Students will be
required to make
 Students’ ability to apply the principles of tort law to presentations on
given situations and resolve problems will be tested. real life
Tutorials problems and
 Students will be required to submit answers on questions
allotted to them
problems and questions allotted to them and all and all students
students will be required to contribute to tutorial are required to
discussions whether they are making responsible for contribute to
the discussion or not. tutorial
discussions.
 Students’ ability to research, analyse and resolve
problems, and communicate solutions will be tested. Students’ ability
 Students’ presentations skills will be evaluated to research,
analyse and
Assignment/s resolve
 Students’ ability to research, analyse and resolve
problems, and communicate solutions in writing
will be tested.
CILO 4 Lectures and tutorials Students’ ability

5
  Students’ ability to apply, descript and explain the to analyse and
critically
principles of tort law to given situations and evaluate will be
leadership in discussion or presentation will be tested by all
tested. three assessment
tasks/activities
to determine
their ability to
apply the law to
a given fact
situation.

Tutorial Work: 10%

Quiz 20%
Take home exam: 20%
2 hr exam: 50%

To pass this course, students must obtain an aggregate mark of 40% and a minimum of 40% in
each of the tutorial work, take home exam and the examination elements of the assessment.
Coursework for this purpose means those ways in which students are assessed otherwise than by
the end of session examination.

Formative Assessment

Your participation during the interactive small group sessions allows you to demonstrate your
capacity to understand, analyse and apply rules and principles. Some of the more difficult
questions will require you to demonstrate your ability to synthesise cases and articles and advise
clients in novel situations. Your responses in these sessions will enable you and your teachers to
assess the adequacy of your learning and how to improve it where necessary. You will also
receive formative feedback on your coursework assignment.

Summative Assessment

20% - Take home exam

You will be required to complete an assignment during the semester. This represents 20% of the
assessment. The deadline for the submission of the take home exam is 27th March 2018 at
2:00pm. The take home exam will be available on Canvas on the 23rd March 2018. More
instructions on the format etc will be given on the information sheet containing the take home
exam.

20% - Quiz

A close book quiz is scheduled in week 13 during lecture time. More information to be given in
the course of the semester.

10% - Tutorial Work

For the tutorial work, you will be required to prepare for the tutorial problems as allocated by
your tutor. You will need to:
(1) be prepared to present and to discuss the tutorial question(s) during the tutorial; and
(2) answer questions that is directed to you during the tutorial class.

6
The tutorial work represents 10% of the assessment.

You will be assessed on the basis of both the written paper, oral arguments put forward in the
tutorial. Further instructions with regard to this 10% assessment will be given in the tutorial.
Warning: You must not plagiarize. Plagiarism includes (1) paraphrasing of another person’s
words or the use of another person’s ideas without proper referencing in footnotes; and (2)
quoting of another person’s words without placing the quote within quotation marks and without
proper referencing in footnotes. Any plagiarism will be penalized in accordance with the
Academic Regulations, Code of Student conduct and the ARRO Guidelines on Academic
Honesty.

50% - Examination

The remaining 50% of assessment is in the form of an open book examination held at the end of
the semester during the normal examination period. This will test your knowledge and
understanding of the policy and rules and principles of commercial law, and your ability to apply
these rules and principles to particular sets of circumstances.

Core General Skills Assessment

In addition to the skills specified in the foregoing formative and summative assessment
statements, assessment of your work may also specifically include your ability to:
 select, evaluate, analyse, summarise and process relevant data/resources
 develop and express coherent, cogent and relevant arguments
 demonstrate critical and original thinking
 select, use and cite relevant sources appropriately
 select appropriate content and language to suit context and intended audience
 communicate your ideas clearly, coherently and accurately in your own words and in plain
English.

Reflection

 Reflection time between 1000 to 1130 every Tuesday in Semester B 2016-2017

o Reflect on course related matter – teaching method/assessment/teachers etc
o Further discussion on issues
o Other comments and issues
o Personal issues/questions

Grading of Student Achievement

Standard (A+, A, A-…F). Grading is based on student performance in assessment tasks /

activities.

To pass this course, students must obtain an aggregate mark of 40% and a minimum of 40% in
each of the components (exam, coursework AND in class assessment).

Your participation during the interactive small group sessions allows you to demonstrate your

7
capacity to understand, analyse and apply rules and principles. Some of the more difficult
questions will require you to demonstrate your ability to synthesise cases and articles and advise
clients in novel situations. Your responses in these sessions will enable you and your teachers to
assess the adequacy of your learning and how to improve it where necessary. You will also
receive formative feedback on your coursework assignment.

The portion of the overall mark allocated to performance/participation in inter-active in class

activities will be assessed on the quality of the participation, written work and leading of
discussion. Assessment criteria for those activities, their nature and their timing will be set out in
the student guide/course manual and will be further expanded upon by the course leader.

The duration of the examination will last for 3 hours and it will be at the discretion of the course
leader to shorten it. The course leader will announce the duration of the examination in the first
week of the course. Similarly the course leader will announce whether the examination will be
closed book or open book.

To enable the full benefit to be obtained form this course, students should attend all of the
classes and activities.

Assessment will be formative to enable students to demonstrate their capacity to understand,

analyse and apply rules and principles and summative to assess ability to synthesise primary and
secondary material to solve novel problems.

Part III

Keyword Syllabus:

Review of the nature and scope of tort law; intentional torts including trespass to chattels, to the
person and to land; conversion and detinue; the intentional infliction of physical harm to the
person, defamation, vicarious liability, employer’s liability and limitation, the general theory of
liability in negligence: Duty of Care, Breach of Duty, Causation and Remoteness of Damages;
Defences, Vicarious Liability and Employer’s Liability, Occupier’s Liability, Nuisance, Rylands
v Fletcher,.

Detailed Syllabus:

 Review of the nature and scope and objective of tort law

 Intentional torts; trespass to the person
 Intentional torts; trespass to chattels: conversion and detinue.
 Intentional torts; trespass to land.
 Negligence: Duty of Care (determination), standard of care and Causation in Fact and
Causation in law and Breach.
 Negligence: Product liability, psychiatric illness, rescuers and economic loss.
 Defences to Negligence
 Vicarious Liability and employer’s liability under the common law and defences
 Occupier’s liability and OLO
 Nuisance and the rule in Rylands and Fletcher
 Defamation; libel and slander, Defamation Ordinance (Cap. 21), defences for defamation.
 Limitation of Actions in tort and remedies

8
Recommended Reading:

Essential reading

D K Srivastava, C Sharma, A Lui and S Tsui: The Law of Tort in Hong Kong, 3rd edition
(Lexis Nexis, 2014)

R Glofcheski, Tort Law in Hong Kong (2nd edition) (Thomson: Sweet and Maxwell)

Supplementary Reading

P J Bokhary, N Sarony and D K Srivastava (eds), Tort Law and Practice in Hong Kong.
(Thomson: Sweet and Maxwell)

F A Trindade & P Cane, The Law of Torts in Australia (Oxford University Press)

Markesinis and Deakin’s Tort Law, Oxford publishers.

Winfield and Jolowicz on Tort, Sweet & Maxwell

Ordinances

A working knowledge of, at least, the following ordinances is fundamental to a successful

study of the law of tort.

Application of English Law Ordinance (Cap. 88).

Civil Liability (Construction) Ordinance (Cap. 377).
Control of Exemption Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 71).
Conveyancing and Propety Ordinance (Cap 219).
Defamation Ordinance (Cap. 21).
Fatal Accidents Ordinance (Cap. 22).
Law Amendment and Reform (Consolidation) Ordinance (Cap. 23).
Limitation Ordinance (Cap. 347).
Sex Discrimination Ordinance (Cap. 480).

Other material

Reference should be made to law reports both in Hong Kong and in other jurisdictions.
For Hong Kong reference should be made to:
The Hong Kong Cases (HKC)
The Hong Kong Law Reports and Digest (HKLRD)
Online Resources:
Reference should also be made to web-sites, for example The Times (newspaper) for its
law reports. Simply reading textbooks will not provide sufficient up to date knowledge of
developments in tort law that will need to be shown to achieve good marks in this subject.

9
 CITY UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

School of Law
LW5603 Law of Tort
Semester B, 2015/16

LECTURE PROGRAMME

The following programme is intended to be only a guide to the topics and is subject to
variation depending upon the lecture and tutorial discussion.

Teaching
Lecture Topic
Week
1 16/1  Introduction to the Law of Tort
2 23/1  Intentional torts: assault, battery, false imprisonment, intentional
infliction of harm

3 30/1  Trespass to land, trespass to chattels, conversion, detinue
4 6/2  Duty of Care
 Negligence (including Products Liability, Psychiatric
Illness, Rescuers and Economic Loss)
5 13/2  Duty of Care
 Negligence (including Products Liability, Psychiatric
Illness, Rescuers and Economic Loss)
6 27/2  Negligence (including Products Liability, Psychiatric
Illness, Rescuers and Economic Loss)
7 6/3  Breach
 Negligence (including Products Liability, Psychiatric
Illness, Rescuers and Economic Loss)
8 13/3  Defences/Remedies
 Negligence (including Products Liability, Psychiatric
Illness, Rescuers and Economic Loss)
9 20/3  Vicarious liability
 Employers’ liability
10 27/3  Occupiers’ Liability
 Nuisance
 Rylands v Fletcher
11 10/4  Defamation
12 17/4  Revision week
13 24/4  Close book Quiz

10
 Assault, battery, false imprisonment, Intentional infliction of harm

1. Chan is a young man of 30 years living in his mother’s beautiful house in Sai Kung. He is
presently unemployed. Chan’s mother is very sick. Chan needs $500,000 for her surgery and
$500,000 for treatment after the surgery. He runs into Sharp, a loan shark and borrows $ 1
million, at the rate of 15 per cent interest per month. Chan is unable to pay either any part of
the loan or interest on it. He is taken to a room in a Karaoke bar by Sharp. Inside the room
there are two other persons who are armed with knives and moving about in a threatening
manner. They are Sharp’s men. Chan is then forced to strip down to his socks. These two other
men take three or four photos of Chan with a digital camera. Sharp then tells Chan that they
will let him out and he can stay at his mother’s place but they will be watching him and the
money must be repaid within two weeks.

Advise Chan as to any tort that Sharp might have committed against Chan. Also consider what
kind of damages Chan could recover against Sharp.

Part of Sem B 2003/04 Exam question

2. Gambler was a businessman who indulged in gambling. He borrowed HK$2 million from
Mighty, a loan shark, and lost all of it within two weeks. Gambler was expected to repay the
loan with interest within one month but he could not do so because he had serious financial
problems.

After the loan became due, Gambler began to get menacing phone calls from Mighty. The
phone calls became increasingly threatening. Mighty warned Gambler that if he did not repay
the loan, he and his family would be beaten up and, within a week, somebody would be sent to
his flat to kill him and his family.

Three days later, as Gambler was leaving his office, Mighty suddenly appeared before him and
poured acid on his leg. Mighty then forced Gambler to get into his car and drove him to a
warehouse in the New Territories. Mighty locked Gambler in the warehouse. There was a fire
escape door, through which Gambler could have escaped, but he was too scared to do so.

Mighty then went to Gambler’s home and shouted, “Where is widow Gambler?” Gambler’s
wife came out and said, “I am not a widow.” Mighty said, “You will soon become a widow. I
have locked your husband in a warehouse. There is no water or food. The electricity has been
cut off. Your husband will die and I will burn your flat and all members of your family unless
you repay the loan by tomorrow.” Mighty then left.

Mrs. Gambler was very frightened for the safety of her husband, her children and herself. She
locked herself inside her bedroom and burnt some charcoal, intending to kill herself.
Gambler’s children came home in time and took Mrs. Gambler to hospital. Her life was saved
but she suffered a nervous breakdown and became schizophrenic. She will need psychiatric
treatment for the rest of her life.

What torts, if any, have been committed by Mighty in the above scenario?

11
 Sem B 2001/02 Exam question

3. Gavin was a salesman who indulged in gambling. He borrowed HK$1 million from Mike, a loan
shark, and lost the entire amount within a week. Gavin was expected to repay the loan with
interest within one month but he could not do so because he had serious financial problems.

After one month, Gavin began to get menacing phone calls from Mike. The phone calls
became increasingly threatening. Mike warned Gavin that if he did not repay the loan, he and
his family would be beaten up and, within a week, somebody would be sent to his flat to kill
him and his family.

Three days later, as Gavin was leaving his office, Mike suddenly came from behind him and
poured acid on his back. Mike then forced Gavin to get into his car and drove him to a
warehouse in the New Territories. Mike locked Gavin in the warehouse. There was a fire
escape door, through which Gavin could have escaped, but he was too scared to do so.

Mike then went to Gavin’s home and shouted, “Where is widow Gavin?” Susan, Gavin’s wife
who was heavily pregnant at that time, came out and asked him to stop shouting and said, “I
am not a widow. You better leave, or else I will call the police” . Mike said, “ I know you are
not a widow yet but you will soon become a widow. I have locked your husband in a
warehouse. There is no water or food. The electricity has been cut off. Your husband will die
and I will burn your flat and all the members of your family unless you repay the loan by
tomorrow.” Mike then left.

Susan was very frightened for the safety of her husband, her children and herself. She panicked
and feared for the worst as she knew that they had no money. She locked herself inside her
bedroom and burnt some charcoal, intending to kill herself. Gavin’s children came home in
time and took Susan to hospital. Her life was spared but she suffered a miscarriage.

Discuss what torts, if any, have been committed by Mike in the above scenario?

( In answering your question, please do not discuss the tort of negligence)

Sem B 2006/07 Exam question

Trespass to chattels, conversion, detinue

4. Lucky and Lucy are a young couple. They have spent this weekend in Heaven Plaza Hotel.
While checking out they ask the hotel staff to collect their luggage and put it in their car. When
they reach home they discover a box not belonging to them. They consider that it has
mistakenly been put in the boot of their car by the hotel staff. Curiosity gets the better of them
and they open the box to find that it contains several pieces of crystal. They call up the hotel
reception to report this but are told that the hotel had no idea of any missing box. In the
meantime they are visited by their friend, Casual, an avid antiques collector. He has a look at
the crystal pieces and asks Lucky, “Do you mind if I take these pieces to assess if they are
worth anything”? Lucky says “I am not interested, you do whatever you like with them.”
Casual takes the box away. He then goes directly to an antique shop selling the crystal pieces
for $100,000.The shop subsequently auctions these pieces for $500,000.The buyer of these
pieces is one Mr. Chan. Lucky and Lucy read about the auction of crystal pieces in the Evening
Post.

12
 Discuss if any of the parties have committed the torts of trespass to chattels and/or conversion?
Give reasons for your answer.

Sem B 2002/03 Exam question

5. Bays Ltd (“Bays”) is a wholesale distributor of silk fabrics. Eric, an employee of Bays, was
asked to deliver a consignment of silk fabrics to Mewton Ltd (“Mewton”) with Bays’ delivery
van. Eric took the consignment and the delivery note with him. By mistake the consignment
was delivered to Newton Ltd (“Newton”). In fact, Newton had not ordered any fabric from
Bays. After Newton received these documents, he asked Eric to return the consignment back to
Bays. Eric asked Newton to indorse the delivery order to him, which he did. Eric was in need
of cash at the time, so he sold the consignment to Amy and absconded with the van and the
proceeds of the sale.

Two weeks later, Eric hands over the van to Peter, an auctioneer of used motor vehicles, who
sells the van to Sammy, who paid HK$300,000. Whilst the van was parked in the forecourt,
waiting to be picked up by Sammy, Nick, another employee of Bays saw the van and took the
vehicle back to Bays. Sammy demands the return of the vehicle from Bays who state that it
belongs to their company.

Discuss if any of the parties have committed the torts of trespass to chattels, conversion and/or
detinue and also the remedies available to those against whom the torts have been committed.
Support your answer with cases and authorities.

Sem A 2007/08 Exam question

6. Zilean and Tristanna live next door to each other. Tristanna have a big tall apple tree in her
garden and the branches of the apple tree hangs over to Zilean’s garden. Zilean have told
Tristanna many times that his dislike the over hanging branches, however Tristanna ignores
him every time because she thought the branches where very high up.

On a spring sunny day when Zilean was playing in his garden with his son, Malp, an apple
from Tristanna’s apple tree fell down and hit Malp on the head. This had never happened
before. Malp was sent to hospital and stayed in the ICU unit for one week. After the incident,
Zilean got really upset and cut the apple tree branches by himself, he also ate all the apples on
those branches which he cut. After seeing this action, Tristanna run into Zilean’s garden and
tried to stop him by pulling Zilean on his shirt and pinning him to the ground. Because Zilean
was really angry, he started to call Tristanna names, and Tristanna punched Zilean on the face.
As Tristanna was a really big woman and Zilean did not have the strength to fight her, he wrote
the following passage in the local newspaper:

“Beware of the witch living in 80 Standford Road (which is the house number of Tristanna),
she is ruthless and hurts people. She is an outlaw and always breaks the law.”

Advise the parties as to their rights and obligations (if any).

2012-2013 exam question

13
 Negligence,

Products Liability

7. Claudia buys a hair dryer from Hair Experts Ltd. The hair dryer is manufactured by XY
International Co. It is an expensive dryer. The manufacturer of the dryer had advised retailers
that they must not sell dryers without first testing for efficiency and safety. The beauty of this
dryer is that it dries hair within seconds and although it generates a lot of heat, the user does
not feel the heat. The warning on the dryer says, “this is a special kind of dryer, it not only
dries your hair faster than any other dryers but guarantees that your hair will grow better and
become more beautiful. For further information and advice on this product contact XY
International Co.” In fact, Claudia bought the hair dryer primarily because her hair was messy.
Claudia has been using a hair tonic consisting of a small percentage of alcohol. She always
bought that tonic from Hair Experts Ltd itself. As she used the hair dryer, flames emanating
from the dryer engulfed her entire hair causing serious injury to her scalp and face. In fact one
of the weaknesses of the hairdryers was that it could not be used near alcohol. She remained in
hospital for months. She must now go for expensive plastic surgery.

She wants to bring an action against Hair Experts Ltd as well as against XY International Co.

Advise Claudia.

Sem B 2003/04 Exam paper

Rescuers/ Psychiatric Illness,

1. St. Patrick’s International School organized a package tour for its 4 th Grade students to go to
various islands in Hong Kong, including a tourist resort at Park Lake. The tour operator was
Holiday Limited, a large and well-known package tour organizer in Hong Kong, providing
accommodation, sight seeing services and other facilities for Hong Kong residents and tourists.
It operated through contacting other organizations on different islands. Holiday Limited’s
brochure stated that all the cruise operators “are competent and experienced in providing such
services”.

8. A party of 4th Grade school children of St Patrick’s International School accompanied by

Christina, the school teacher went on Holiday Limited’s adventure package. One afternoon
they went on an expedition organized by Titonic Cruises on Park Lake. As the boat approached
a dangerous section of the water, the operator of the boat who was talking to his girl friend on
the mobile lost control of the boat and the boat began to rock very dangerously. All the children
were screaming. Three children, who were sitting next to Christina, were thrown overboard.
Christina got a terrible shock and collapsed on the boat and suffered from post traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD). Meanwhile, Chang who was standing on the shore and witnessed this
gruesome accident, jumped in to save the children, but fell on a rock. Although he was rescued
he suffered serious physical injuries. Another person, Kwong who was standing on the shore
and had witnessed the whole incident also suffered from PTSD. Christina, Chang and Kwong
were all taken to hospital. Chang and Kwong were discharged after a few days. However
Christina’s condition exacerbated because she had been suffering from a pre-existing
psychiatric condition; she suffered intermittently for one year. Luckily all the children escaped
unhurt.

14
 Advise Christina, Chang and Kwong if they have any claims against Holiday Limited and/or
Titonic Cruises?

Sem B 2004/2005 Exam question

9. Susan was a single mother who lived in a rented wooden cottage at the outskirts of the rural area
in Hong Kong. One day, Susan left her children (aged 12 and 10 years old) in the wooden
cottage and went out to the supermarket to purchase food. Ben and Jerry, two 10 years old
boys were playing with fireworks near the wooden cottage and the wooden cottage caught fire.
Samantha was walking by and saw the fire and started throwing her small bottle of drinking
water and the nearby shrub onto the fire. The small amount of water and the shrub did not help
with the fire, but increased its strength. Samantha was also burnt on her hands while she was
throwing out the bottle and the shrub. The landlord of the wooden cottage, Eric was also
nearby; he saw some smoke coming from the cottage and ran towards the cottage. Eric picked
up a fire extinguish and tried to put out the fire. However, the fire was too strong and Eric
panicked, suffered nervous shock and fainted and hit his head on a hard rock when he fell.

Susan finished her shopping and walked back to the cottage. On the way home, she saw many
police cars and the fireman near her cottage, but the fire had already been put out. She asked
the fireman what happened and followed the fireman to the hospital. In the hospital, she saw
her two children covered in bandages and blood and was crying. She fainted and suffered
nervous shock.

Julie, one of Susan’s child was slightly burnt on her leg, but she has an inherent problem where
she reacts very badly if she was in contact with fire. As a result, she suffered a heart attract.

Advise the parties as to their rights and obligations (if any).

Sem A 2009/2010 Exam question

Economic Loss/negligent misstatement

10. April devoted herself full time in making wooden toys in a large shed at the back garden of her
terraced house. She installed an electric lathe in the shed. The noise from the lathe, which
April uses for four hours each weekday, annoys April’s neighbour, Bertram, who has retired
and likes to sit in his back garden. Bertram suffers a minor heart attack which his doctor
advises was probably contributed to by the stress caused by his irritation about the noise.

While Bertram is recovering in the hospital his daughter, Cressida, visits Bertram’s house to do
some cleaning. She takes a rug into the back garden and beats the dust off it. Some of the dust
drifted over into April’s garden where it stuck and damaged some toys that April had left out to
dry which she had just painted. April was furious about the dust and rushed over to confront
Cressida demanding Cressida to pay monetary damage equal to, 1) the cost of the damaged
toys and, 2) the amount equal to 5 additional toys which April would have made if she did not
confront Cressida. During the confrontations, foul language was exchanged and April punched
Cressida giving her a black eye.

In the course of making the wooden toys, April collected a large amount of sawdust in her shed
near the lathe. A spark from the lathe ignited the sawdust and started a fire. April tried to put
out the fire but failed and the fire spread to Bertram’s garden damaging his roses and fruit

15
 trees.

2013-2014 exam question

Advise the parties as to their rights and obligations (if any).

Round 2
11. Andrew is the sole director and shareholder of Wealthy Company, a company which deals in
properties in Hong Kong. Wealthy Company also owns three properties in the Shum On
Building in the mid-levels area. One of the properties is vacant (the “First Property”), while
his family lives in another (the “Second Property”). Mr. Poon, a new tenant, was scheduled to
move in to the third property (the “Third Property”) on 11 June 2008 pursuant to a three years
tenancy with Wealthy Company. On 10 June 2008, ABC Construction Co. Ltd, while
conducting digging operation for laying broadband cables near Shum On Building, negligently
smashed all the glass windows of the ground floor of all three properties and caused damage to
the outer wall of the three properties. Because of this, Mr. Poon refused to move into the third
property and asked for the return of his deposit and for damages.

Before the construction accident, Lee Man Sister Company through its manager, Sally had
negotiated with Andrew and entered into an agreement to purchase all the three properties from
Wealthy Company. Because of the damage caused by ABC Construction Co Ltd, the contract
for the sale and purchase of the properties could not proceed and subsequently, Lee Man Sister
Company terminated the contract and sued Wealthy Co Ltd for damages.

Meanwhile, to impress Sally, Andrew told Sally exaggerated stories about his stock purchase
and sales experiences and the large amount of investments and gains he had made. As a result,
Sally who had just inherited a large sum of money, asked Andrew as to which stock she should
invest in. Andrew knowing about Sally’s financial status said that she should invest heavily in
stock number 999, as the “price of the stock would increase three times in the next 6 months”.
Sally used half of the inheritance money and invested in stock number 999.

About a week later, Sally heard on the investment channel of the radio about another stock,
stock number 444, which was being favoured by the stock specialists that week. She then used
the rest of the inheritance money and invested in stock number 444.

Two weeks later, the financial crisis in the US occurred and stock markets worldwide dropped
dramatically. Sally lost almost all of her money.

In light of the above facts advise:

A. Sally who wants to sue Andrew and the radio channel for the loss she suffered; and

B. Wealthy Co Ltd, which wants to claim damages from ABC Construction Co. Ltd.

Sem A 2008/09 Exam question

Causation and Remoteness/Breach/Defences/others

16
12. The reasonable person’s test in breach of duty is a test developed by the courts to ignore totally
the personal considerations of the defendant.

Discuss the above statement in the context of breach of duty using relevant case law.

Sem B 2011/12 Exam question

13. Mrs. Lee was having coffee with her friend Mrs. Wong in a coffee shop at Festival Walk. This
was a treat from Mrs. Wong. After finishing half of her coffee Mrs. Lee saw a half dead
cockroach in her coffee. She felt very sick and started vomiting. She was pregnant (in her 7 th
month). She wanted to go to a hospital immediately. Her friend Mrs. Wong called a taxi. Both
sat down in the taxi and asked the taxi driver to go to the nearest hospital as fast as possible.
When the taxi reached the nearest Government Hospital Mrs. Wong shouted “here, here, go
go”. In a hurry, the taxi driver entered from the wrong gate (exit gate instead of entry gate) and
the taxi collided with an on-coming car driven by Rex. In the accident Mrs. Wong broke her
right hand and Mrs. Lee suffered a back injury.

Neither Mrs. Lee nor Mrs. Wong were wearing seat belts. Rex’s Honda car was also damaged.
Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Wong were attended to by Dr. Chow, who was an intern on training. Dr.
Chow performed an X-ray on Mrs. Lee’s back and found that she suffered from a bad back
injury. There were two possible methods of treatment: (i) perform surgery and use iron casings
to provide support to the spine (this involved a risk of 1-2% of the operation being
unsuccessful) or (ii) leave the injuries to heal naturally recommending massage by using a new
medicine and complete bed rest. Dr. Chow had recently learnt about this new medicine from a
medical journal. He prescribed that medicine for Mrs. Lee and opted not to perform surgery.
Mrs Lee’s condition became worse.

Mrs. Lee went into premature labour and gave birth to a child. Unfortunately the child had
been affected by exposure to the X-rays and was born with a congenital defect and was blind.

Mrs. Wong could not go to work for 3 months because of her broken hand. She lost money due
to being absent from work and she also had to hire a domestic helper to look after her.

Advise Mrs. Wong and Mrs. Lee and the baby on their prospects of taking legal action against
the following parties: the manufacturer of the coffee, the coffee shop owner, the taxi driver, the
car driver, the doctor and the hospital.

Can Mrs. Lee ask for costs of bringing up a disabled child ? Support your answer with cases
and authorities where appropriate.
Sem A 2008/09 Exam question

14. A notice was issued in March 2007 by the Fire Services Department that required every
landlord of a commercial or factory premises to rectify any fire hazards and install sprinkler
heads into sprinkler systems situated on their premises.

Paul was the owner of a factory in Tsuen Wan. He appointed Dennis to carry out the required
work. Dennis was a registered fire service installation contractor. Dennis installed an automatic
sprinkler system with sprinkler heads in Paul’s factory. Almost immediately after work was
completed, a sprinkler head burst injuring Paul. As the sprinkler system was not working, the
factory remained shut for two months causing a huge financial loss to Paul.

The precise reason for bursting of the sprinkler head was unknown although it was not due to

17
 any fire in the factory premises, manufacturing defect in the sprinkler heads or post-installation
impact.

Paul wants to claim damages for his injuries and financial losses but he is unable to prove the
cause of the accident.

Discuss whether the maxim res ipsa loquitur would help Paul in this situation? If so, why?

Part of Sem B 2006/07 Exam question

15. Ben and Jerry, after a session of heavy drinking, stole a small hovercraft and set off towards an
island. Jerry was the driver and was driving at a terrific speed. Jerry had had a few lessons in
order to learn how to operate a hovercraft but did not have a hovercraft licence. Ben knew
about this but was enjoying the ride and encouraging Jerry to drive at an excessively high
speed in a reckless and hazardous manner. Eventually, the hovercraft collided with a speedboat
in which Ben died and Jerry escaped with minor injuries. Now Ben’s estate claims damages
from Jerry.

Advise Jerry.

Part of Sem B 2004/05 Exam question

16. Derek, lives next door to Robert and occasionally swaps free-range eggs for Robert’s apples and
pears. Derek purchased his hens from a property north of his house, unaware that the sale was
prohibited by quarantine regulations imposed by the Agriculture, Fishery and Conservative
Department in Hong Kong after the outbreak of a rare chicken virus (H5N10) which is harmful to
humans. Robert assumes that Derek, a retired law lecturer, has got the hens from a reputable
source. Derek keeps thirty hens, in contravention of a restriction limit of twenty for backyard
breeding. He does not like eggs but keeps the hens to barter the eggs for vegetables and fruit and
because he likes to give some to neighbours and friends.

Derek has never had a veterinarian inspect the hens despite recent signs of distress and moulting.
One night a marauding ferret breaks into the hens’ pen and several hens panic and escape onto
Robert’s property. Derek has heard of similar raids in the area but thinks they are unlikely and takes
no special precautions.

Whilst playing in her backyard, Robert’s small daughter Sally is infected with the virus when a cut
in her foot comes into contact with chicken droppings, and she suffers a disabling illness. Sally’s
mother Anne suffers financial loss when an advertising agency cancels (pursuant to a
‘Disablement’ clause) a lucrative contract for Sally to model clothes on television. Robert suffers
great mental anguish and distress from the situation of Sally.

Advise the parties as to their rights and obligations (if any).

Sem B 2012/13 Exam Question

Vicarious liability, Employers’ liability

17. Danny was employed by Tech Computer Ltd (Tech Ltd) a Hong Kong registered
company, as computer technician for working in its factory in Mainland China. David
was Tech Ltd’s managing director and he required Danny to work in Xian for one year.

18
 Danny was 22 years of age and a Hong Kong resident, but had stayed in Jilian province
and Xian while in school. Danny was in charge of supervising short-term technicians
hired from the province of Jilian and Xian manufacture computer parts for eight months
in 2006-07. When David sent Danny to Xian he asked Danny to either have a hotel
accommodation or rent his own accommodation for which David promised to
reimburse Danny. However David was not very specific about it and kept reinforcing
that Danny had to save cost.

In August 2006, when Danny went to Xian he entered into a tenancy to rent a three-
storey building as a warehouse for storing company equipment. In early April 2007,
David asked Danny to work on a particular project and for this purpose Danny recruited
two workers, Yin and Yang, to assist him. Although David had suggested that Danny
rent a hotel, Danny, however, decided to reside in the warehouse with Yin and Yang to
lower David’s costs. David knew of this arrangement, he was also aware that there
were no partitions inside the warehouse and that Danny was not satisfied with Yin and
Tang’s work. Both Yin and Yang were unhappy with Danny’s criticism of their work
and at about 2:00 am on Sunday 22 April 2007, they beat him to death while he was
asleep and tool his money.

Danny’s father, Pang, wants to bring a personal injury action against David and Tech
Ltd, for breach of employer’s duty of care in negligence, in (a) failing to provide a safe
system of work; (b) failing to provide safe accommodation; and (c) vicarious liability
for the acts of Yin and Yang. Discuss and critically comment on Pang’s chances of
success.

Students should take note of the following relevant facts in analyzing the problem:

Fact One: David was under a contractual duty to provide accommodation for Danny:
but had connived with Danny residing in the warehouse, presumably to save money,
and effectively authorized Danny’s stay as if it were quarters provided by David.

Fact two: Yin and Yang were total strangers. David never checked their backgrounds
although Tech Ltd had information that some of the out of province workers were of
bad character and had caused robberies and murders in the province earlier. David did
not care if Yin and Yang might have been tricksters or murderers as long as he was
getting his work done and making money.

Sem B 2007/08 Exam question

18. Stephen works as a cab driver for Prang Ltd. There have never been any complaints about his
work or behaviour. The Micawber Health Hospital arranged with Prang for Stephen to work
for the council for some weeks driving patients without transport of their own to and from
hospital appointments. One morning, Stephen was in a bad temper and, when a young patient,
Toby, started teasing him about his appearance. Stephen stopped the cab, turned round and hit
Toby very hard. Toby struck his head on the door handle and injured his eye. Stephen drove
him to the Accident and Emergency Department at Micawber Health Hospital.

19
 At the hospital a nurse, Jennifer, administered a dose of antibiotics. She did not ask Toby if he
was allergic to the antibiotic and carried out no tests. Toby reacted very severely to the
antibiotic, was unconscious for some days and has some permanent brain damage. He has also
suffered permanent damage to his eye from being struck in the cab.

Advise Toby.
2011-2012 exam question

19. Peter was employed by David as an air-conditioning technician. David asked Peter to work in
Sha Kit Tau, a quaint fishing village near Sai Kung, where he was required to supervise some
labourers on a project. As to the living arrangements, Peter was given a choice to stay in a hotel
or rent his own apartment. David agreed to reimburse Peter for the amount spent on hotel room
rates or rent. Peter did not find a suitable hotel or an apartment anywhere near the project site.

In January 2007, David entered into a tenancy to rent a three-storey building as a warehouse
for storing company equipment. Peter began to sleep in the warehouse with Chan and Cheng.
Both were working under Peter’s supervision. Peter decided to stay in the warehouse with a
view to lowering David’s costs.

David was aware of this arrangement. Peter became dissatisfied with Chan and Cheng’s work
and reported it to David. Both Chan and Cheng were unhappy with Peter’s reporting of the
matter and had a heated exchange of words. The next day Chan and Cheng decided to get
even, and played a practical joke on Peter. They knew Peter would walk past a particular
footpath each morning to get to work and they decided to pour oil on the footpath to make
Peter slip. In fact, Peter slipped and injured his ankle. Chan and Cheng laughed and said “don’t
be so harsh in your dealings; unless you change your attitude towards us, your injuries will be
more severe next time”. Peter was furious but did not want to lose the services of Chan and
Cheng on this project, so he remained silent. Early the next morning, at 3:00am, whilst Peter
was asleep, Chan and Cheng stole Peter’s gold necklace and wallet and absconded.

When Peter woke up he realized that his gold necklace and wallet were missing. He was in a
state of panic and went downstairs to confront Chan or Cheng. As he went downstairs, he
tripped over a cable which had carelessly been left by Chan and Cheng on the staircase the
previous night. Peter lost his balance and fell from the third floor to the ground floor injuring
his back. The staircase itself was defective, and did not have a bannister.

Advise Peter as to whether he has any actions in tort against Chan, Cheng and David.

Sem B 2006/07 Exam question

Occupiers’ Liability

20. Marilyn falls down the stairs at her home and injures herself. Her elder sister, Karen, drives
Marilyn to Dr. Brown for emergency care. They all live in a rural community. Dr. Brown
practices out of his house and has a home office comprising of a waiting room and an
examination room. There is a separate exterior entrance to his office for patients, and an
interior door that separates his home from his office. On the interior door hangs a sign reading
“No Entry.”

While Dr. Brown is caring for Marilyn in the examination room, Karen gets thirsty from

20
 having exerted herself getting Marilyn to the doctor. Not wanting to interrupt the doctor,
Karen goes through the interior door with the “No Entry” sign to get a glass of water. She
injures her hand on the faucet, which is cracked. She screams and Dr. Brown comes running
in. He is shocked to see Karen bleeding all over his kitchen and quickly renders aid, grabbing
a nearby kitchen towel to stop the bleeding. Unfortunately the towel he used is the same dirty
towel he used to clean up raw chicken the same morning. Bacteria from the raw chicken enter
the wound causing serious infection requiring extensive medical treatment and leaving
permanent damage to her hand. Further Dr. Brown suffers from psychiatric disorder from the
sight of the bleeding.

Meanwhile, in the examination room, Marilyn passes out from the large amount of painkiller
medication which Dr. Brown gives her and suffers additional injuries. Dr. Brown had not
asked whether Marilyn has any allergies, so he did not realize she would react to the drug he
prescribed.

Advise the parties as to their rights and obligations (if any).

21. A Ltd. owned an estate comprising several villa units in Sai Kung. These villa units were
rented by tenants. There were several barbecue and entertainment areas and a swimming pool
in the estate for use by the tenants. These areas were managed by A Ltd. The swimming pool
was enclosed by a six-foot fence but there was a small gap in the fence. There were several
signs near the swimming pool stating that “Only residents of this estate are allowed to use this
pool. No visitors allowed.”

Veronica signed a three year lease agreement for renting one of the villa units with A Ltd. After
living there for one year, Veronica went to the United States for a short time. She asked Barry,
her cousin, to stay in her villa unit during her absence. She continued to pay the rent.

Barry invited his friends and relatives to a party at the villa unit to celebrate his twenty-fifth
birthday. Several people, including a number of small children, came to the party. While the
adults were having drinks in the living room, children played in the master bedroom. Barry had
warned the children not to play with any electrical appliances.

Inside the master bedroom, there was an old air-conditioner. This air-conditioner was making a
lot of noise and was emitting sparks. Joseph, a mechanically-minded five-year-old boy, thought
he would try to repair the air-conditioner. He found a screwdriver in a drawer in the bedroom
and inserted it into the air-conditioner. He received an electric shock. His parents immediately
took him to hospital. He was diagnosed to have suffered brain injuries.

While the adults were occupied with attending to Joseph, Linda, a four-year-old child, went
into the swimming pool through the gap in the fence. Linda started to swim at the shallow end
but as she swam towards the deep end, she panicked and screamed for help. There were no
lifeguards at the swimming pool at that time. Linda’s father soon came to the pool and rescued
Linda but she had swallowed a considerable amount of water and was unconscious. She was
taken to hospital where she was resuscitated. She suffered from a lung infection because of the
accident and remained in hospital for two weeks.

Advise the parents of Joseph and Linda whether they can claim any compensation for the

21
 injuries to their children and if so, from whom.

Sem B 2001/02 Exam question

22. Ben, aged eight, his mother Mary, and his younger brother Larry, aged four, lived in a housing
development built by the Hong Kong Housing Authority. Within the development was a 7-
storey building managed by the Management Company. On the roof of the building were
tennis, volleyball and basketball courts, separated by wire mesh fences about 6 meters high.
They were open for use by residents of the estate everyday.

On Saturday when Mary had gone shopping, Ben and Larry decided to go to the roof of the
building to play basketball. Only two basketball courts were open and the volleyball and tennis
courts were locked. Ben and Larry went to the basketball courts. The registration counter near
the courts was unmanned,so they went on to one of the courts without registering. In the course
of play, their ball accidentally went over the fence into the adjoining, locked volleyball court.
There was still no one at the registration counter so Ben and Larry went to the ground floor to
look for a guard but without success. They returned to the basketball court and waited for
about half an hour but no one came. Being extremely anxious to retrieve the ball and faced
with no alternative, Ben decided to climb over the fence. Having retrieved the ball and thrown
it back to into the basketball court, he then climbed up the fence but fell from near the top of
the fence to the floor of the basketball court and became unconscious. Having seen what had
happened to Ben, Larry was scared and ran for help. Larry decided to go to the ground floor to
seek assistance. As he ran down the stairs he fell and broke his arm.

Mary was still shopping in a plaza in the adjoining residential area. Again, the plaza was also
owned by the Hong Kong Housing Authority and the same Management Company. Mary was
carrying two large bags of shopping and was holding a mobile phone when she was informed
about Ben and Larry’s accident. She did not notice there was a water puddle on the floor as she
was in a rush to go to hospital. Mary slipped and fell because of the water puddle on the floor
of the Plaza.

Note: The slipping in the puddle of water was an unusual event as the plaza was under constant
supervision by the cleaners.

Advise Mary, Ben and Larry if they have a remedy against the Hong Kong Housing Authority
and/or the Management Company.

Sem A 2008/09 Exam question

23. John buys a trampoline for his children. He erects it together with the safety net in his back
garden. The instructions of the trampoline clearly say that only one child at a time should play
on the trampoline, but John allows his three children, aged ten, eight and six, to play there
together because he was fed up with hearing arguments about whose turn it was to play on the
trampoline.

John has also told his neighbour, Paul, that his two children, aged four and six, are welcome to
use the trampoline, so long as Paul supervises them and only one child is on it at a time.

One day John had to leave for a meeting with George. Before he left, the children asked if they
could play on the trampoline, to which John agreed. While the three children were playing on
the trampoline they were joined by Paul’s children, Boris and Igor. Paul did not notice they had

22
 left the house as he was busy tending his cannabis plants at the time.

At some point John’s son, Mick, pushed his sister, Nico, over and she bashed her head on one
of the poles holding the safety net, causing much bleeding. All three children then went to find
their mother to report the accident. While they were gone Boris and Igor climbed onto the
trampoline to play. Boris fell badly when he crashed into Igor and landed on his head, breaking
his neck in an accident that left him paralysed form the waist down.

While this was happening John’s children, unable to find their mother, went next door to find
Paul who, in the meantime, had gone to his children upon hearing their cries from the
trampoline. While looking for Paul in the house, Mick discovered what he thought was
chocolate cake and stole a large piece, which he subsequently ate. In fact it was a cannabis
cookie, and the amount of cannabis in the drug was enough to make Mick very ill, requiring
that he be taken to hospital.

A doctor at the hospital, Dr Strangelove, misdiagnosed Mick’s condition and concluded that
Mick was suffering from a virus that was going round the local schools. He told John, who had
just arrived that Mick just needed some rest and plenty of fluids. As a consequence Mick was
extremely unwell for two days. Eventually, Mick told John that he became unwell after eating
one of Paul’s cookies.

Advise the parties as to their rights and obligations (if any).

Sem B 2012/2013 Exam Question

Nuisance

24. Tasty is a tenant of a large unit on the ground floor and another large unit on the first floor in
the Li On building. A music teacher, Ho, has rented the second floor unit of the building. On
the ground floor unit, Tasty runs a restaurant serving Chinese food while the first floor is a
residence for Tasty’s family. Tasty drills some holes in Ho’s outside wall to put big nails and
hooks to support a large signboard to advertise his shop. The sign board is illuminated by neon
signs. The heavy weight of the sign board causes cracks in Ho’s wall and the neon sign reflects
glare into Ho’s music room. Ho does not object to Tasty’s activities. Tasty then gives a contract
to XY Construction Co for the renovation of the shop on the ground floor and the unit on the
first floor. XY Construction Co. erects bamboo scaffolding covering the front and the side of
Ho’s balcony. Ho is now distressed and he regards Tasty’s actions unwarranted.

Advise Ho and the owner of the Li On building as to what legal issues arise from these facts.
What are the remedies available to Ho? Has Tasty any defences?

Sem B 2002/03 Exam question

25. Candice owned a residential flat, Flat 3A of “Falling Apart House”. She rented it to Harry after
knowing that he was evicted by his ex-landlord due to his strange and exotic hobby of keeping
“live” insects. Ellen resided in the adjoining flat, Flat 3B, in the same building. She decorated
her flat with expensive wall paper and polished floorboards. She also bought a designer
wooden armchair for HK$10,000 and placed it in her sitting room. Candice saw some termites
in a country park and she informed Harry of the whereabouts of the termites. Harry caught
some termites and raised them in a glass container inside his flat. In August 2007, Delicious
Bakery opened on the ground floor of “Falling Apart House” with an extractor vent right

23
 outside the window of Harry’s bedroom. Strong baking aroma and smell pervaded into Harry’s
flat every night from 3 am to 7 am. The smells woke Harry up every night and he could not
return to sleep. Harry was unable to have sufficient sleep as he had to work from 7 am until 8
pm everyday.

One day in October 2007 while Harry was feeding the termites, he fainted as a result of lack of
sleep and broke the glass container. As a result, all the termites escaped. In May 2008, Ellen
discovered several tiny holes in her wall paper. The situation worsened and on 20 August 2008
while Ellen was sitting on the designer wooden armchair, the armchair snapped as one of the
legs of the armchair had been seriously damaged by the termites. She fell onto the floor
injuring her back. She was hospitalized for 2 weeks. Upon discharge from the hospital in
September 2008, Ellen discovered the wooden floorboards in her flat had started to bulge and
had become loose and the wall paper peeling off.

After investigation, it was discovered that Ellen’s flat was infested by termites. An expert
report confirmed that the termites had come from Flat 3A through the tiny cracks on the
adjoining wall. Ellen spent HK$100,000 to renovate her flat by replacing all the wall paper and
wooden floorboards.

Advise Harry and Ellen as to whether they may have any sort of a claim under tort law.
Sem A 2008/09 Exam question

26. Janna is a dog breeder and have 10 dogs. She is a tenant and lives in a crowed residential area
of Tsim Sha Tsui. Jarvin lives next to her and had complained to Janna many times that her
dogs were too noisy. As a matter of fact, five of Janna’s dogs have a habit of barking to a song
tune from a very popular ad that is played on television all the time. Jarvin works in shifts and
it is very important that he gets his sleep, because of the barking of the dogs, Jarvin cannot get
his sleep and his work performance were declining.

Shaco, another next door neighbor of Janna is also complaining about Janna’s dogs, as Shaco
is getting some kind of allergies from Janna’s dogs, however, nobody in the same floor as
Janna is getting any allergies.

One evening when Janna was not home, a thief broke into Janna’s flat, the thief tripped over a
step and fell onto to floor where he was attacked by the dogs and was badly injured.

Advise the parties as to their rights and obligations (if any).

2012-2013 exam question

Rylands v Fletcher

27. XY Ltd is a company dealing in the production of fruits and vegetables. It is growing a new
variety of strawberries in Yuen Long. The crops are irrigated by rainwater collected in a tank
via a rainwater gutter. The rainwater gutter runs past the outer boundary of a worksite occupied
by DC Maintenance Contractors Ltd (DC) who have undertaken some drilling work on a site
adjacent to XY Ltd’s farm. This worksite falls within a water pollution control zone and is
required to be free from waste water disposal and other pollutants.

The freshwater supply to the worksite is cut off, and DC therefore pumps seawater onto the

24
 worksite which is stored in several tanks. A large quantity of seawater overflows from the tanks
and mixes with the natural water from the stream which runs between DC and XY Ltd’s land.
As a consequence, a metal tube on DC’s worksite which normally discharges rain water into
the rainwater gutter carries the spilled seawater to XY Ltd’s water tank. The stored rain water
in XY Ltd’s tank mixes with the sea water and becomes contaminated. Unknowingly, XY Ltd
uses the contaminated water for irrigation purposes. In early January 2007, XY Ltd’s
strawberry crops die.

XY Ltd now wants to claim damages against DC Ltd under the rule in Rylands v Fletcher.
Advise XY Ltd.

Sem B 2006/07 Exam question

Defamation

28. An article is published in Hong Kong Hot News referring to a singer living in Sai Kung. This
article states that “although this singer is described as a role model for young people in Hong
Kong, in that he has participated in several fundraising events for charity, and recently opened
a centre to help young aspiring singers in Hong Kong, providing them with musical
instruments and a place to practice free of charge, he is also an actor in soft pornographic
films.” The article goes on to give details about the pornographic films in which the singer has
appeared and states that he is making a huge amount of money by acting in such films. It also
states that it is unimaginable for a singer such as him to participate in such activities. When
people read this article, they mistakenly believe that the article is about Samson Lai, the
famous Cantonese singer living in Sai Kung. Samson Lai also comes to know that some of his
friends consider that the article is about him. He feels humiliated and embarrassed. The
following week Hong Kong Hot News publishes a news item stating that the statement
contained in Hot News the previous week does not refer to Samson Lai.

Hong Kong Hot News’ stories about sex and women have made it very popular amongst
teenagers and it deliberately publishes stories without worrying about the truth or falsity in
order to boost its sales.

Advise Samson Lai. Does he have a case in defamation against the publisher of Hong Kong
Hot News? What kind of remedies, if at all, is Samson Lai entitled to?

Sem B 2004/2005 Exam question

29. Professor Sheila Ray, a Finnish professor, is a securities investment advisor to Wealth
International Ltd. She is currently on a short-term stay in Hong Kong. She is highly respected
as an investment advisor making great headway in her profession. However, an investment
company’s director wrote a scathing comment on the professional competence and personal
life of an investment adviser in a magazine published in Finland. This comment was then
posted on the Internet by Snoopy International Ltd Co (Snoopy), an Internet Service Provider.
Snoopy provides information about investment advisors and consultants and job openings in
multinational corporations. Access to the site requires payment of an annual fee. Snoopy
publishes sensational news items about investment advisors and consultants without checking
whether the information is true or false. The object of publishing such news items is to boost
membership to their site to make money.

While in Hong Kong some of Professor Ray’s Finnish friends break all communication with

25
her and refuse to have any association with her. Intrigued at such behaviour and hurt by such
actions, she inquires from her closest friend as to what actually happened. Her friend tells her
that there has been a posting on the Internet in Hong Kong which refers to one ‘Ray of
Finland’. The posting contains the following statement:

The Finnish Professor who professes to be an investment consultant is nothing more than
a passable high school accountancy teacher. She has no investment acumen. She has
obtained her present position by misrepresenting her qualifications, experience and
portfolios. She has considerable influence in her company. Why not- the CEO of the
company eats out of her hand. In other words she is a fraud and people like her put
investment consultants to shame. She has had a legacy of torrid affairs…who knows who
all were involved?-clients, customers, CEOs …

Professor Ray herself downloaded the statement and was shocked to read it. The statement
affected her so much that she went into an acute depression and is admitted to a psychiatric
hospital. In fact the story was about one Dr Ray, also from Finland.

Advise Professor Sheila Ray

a. whether she has any claims against Snoopy International Ltd
b. whether Snoopy International has any defences
c. whether she can bring an action against Snoopy International in Hong Kong
d. what kind of damages, if any, can she claim ?

Support your answer with relevant cases.

Sem B 2002/03 Exam question

26