As mentioned in “Recognition and Enforcement of Mainland court judgment in Hong Kong”, there are 5 prerequisites to be complied with before the Hong Kong courts recognise and enforce Mainland court judgments. How can one enforce the judgment debts if the prerequisites are not fully complied with? In this situation, one can consider filing the Mainland court judgment as evidence when commencing a new fresh proceeding in Hong Kong. As long as one’s case is persuasive enough to obtain a favourable judgment, the court fees in Hong Kong are quite low. For proceedings to be heard in District Court, the court fee is HK$630; while for the claims to be heard in High Court, the court fee is HK$ 1,045. For the litigation costs the general principle under Hong Kong law is “Costs follow the event”, which means one can request the court to order the losing party to bear all or the majority of the costs, hence one should not be overly concerned over lawyer fees.

Litigation under the Common Law regime of Hong Kong is a complicated and sophisticated process and every case is unique per se. This article is merely a brief summary for general reference, and should not be considered as legal advice for any specific matter. Should you be in need of litigation advice or assistance, please contact Mr. Zhang Yuanhong, practicing solicitor in Hong Kong, for consultation.

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