On 26 November 2018, the Court of First Instance dismissed an appeal to set aside a default judgment in DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Limited v. Tang Hin Ming Henry & Wong Yuen Wah (formerly trading as Tang & Associates) [2018] HKCFI 2598.

The two defendants formerly traded as Tang & Associates (the “Firm”). The 1st Defendant (“D1”) was the sole proprietor of the Firm, whereas D2 was a non-equity partner of the Firm. The Plaintiff (“P”) had obtained default judgment against the defendants for a debt owed to it by the Firm.

D2 had applied to set aside the default judgment without success. This was D2’s appeal against the Master’s dismissal of that application.

The Hon Mimmie Chan J held that the judgment was regular since D2 had failed to produce any convincing or compelling evidence to rebut the presumption of service arising upon the insertion of the Writ through the letterbox.

The Court went on to find that D2 had no real prospect of success in defending P’s claim.  In addition to there being insufficient evidence to support D2’s allegations of forgery, D2’s attempt to dissociate herself with the Firm was not accepted. The Court held that although as a non-equity partner, D2 was not responsible for the profits and losses of the Firm, that is no answer to a claim made by P, a 3rd party dealing with the Firm and to whom D2 held out to be a partner of the Firm.

Osmond Lam acted for the Plaintiff, instructed by Messrs Chu & Lau.

The full judgment can be found here.