Company skipped the hearing entirely and still got hit with a six-figure bill
On 5 August 2026, Deputy District Judge Matthew Ho ordered a Hong Kong employer to pay over HK$538,000 after a supervisor's assault injured its worker.
The Hong Kong District Court case, cited as [2026] HKDC 1434, centred on a warehouse worker who fell from a loading platform on 23 February 2017 after a physical fight with his supervisor during a shift. The worker suffered fractures to his right wrist that left him with lasting impairment. He later confined his claim to that injury alone, so the court set aside his evidence about a separate back complaint that fell outside what he chose to pursue.
The employer named in the case did not turn up. The judgment records: "The 1st Respondent was absent at trial and did not lodge any opening submissions." Satisfied it had been properly served, the judge proceeded to hear the matter without it. A second company originally joined to the case had already been let out after the worker discontinued his claim against it, with no order for costs made either way between them.
Much of the legal groundwork had already been laid in an earlier personal injury action, decided in 2025, where a different judge found the worker was employed by the respondent company rather than the second one, and awarded him damages of HK$1.87 million on a vicarious liability basis. Judge Ho held that the finding on the employment relationship was binding and could not be relitigated,...
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