Hong Kong court rules appeal by ex-girlfriend in lawsuit against Stephen Chow is without merit
- The former long-term girlfriend had been seeking HK$80 million in what she characterised as unpaid investment commissions
- A panel of judges found a lower court had not made any errors of law in deciding to toss out the suit
An appeal by a former girlfriend of Hong Kong’s “King of Comedy” Stephen Chow Sing-chi against a ruling that denied her HK$80 million (US$10.3 million) in unpaid investment “commissions” had no merit, the High Court said on Friday.
Explaining the bench’s unanimous dismissal of Alice Yu Man-fung’s claim last month, Court of Appeal vice-president Madam Justice Susan Kwan Shuk-hing said it was clear the trial judge did not make any errors of law in his “comprehensive” 140-page ruling rejecting the claim last year.
While Yu had maintained that she had a legally binding oral agreement with Chow to share profits and argued that Mr Justice Russell Coleman had erred in his findings, Kwan said the appellate process was not designed to give a litigant a platform to advance the same submissions in the hope that the Court of Appeal might be persuaded to reach a different view.
“[Coleman’s] comprehensive judgment demonstrated his total familiarity with the issues and the evidence,” Kwan explained in a 30-page decision. “The correct approach in reviewing such a conclusion is to treat the judge’s decision with utmost respect, and refrain from interference unless satisfied that it proceeded upon some erroneous principle or was plainly wrong.”
The two other judges on the appeals bench are justices Aarif Barma and Thomas Au Hing-cheung.
Chow, 59, made his name as an actor and director in blockbusters such as Fight Back to School, From Beijing with Love, King of Comedy, Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle. His ex-girlfriend, Yu, is the daughter of the late Yu Ching-po, a successful businessman who founded Hong Kong Construction (Holdings).
