The Hong Kong District Court recently departed from its previous approach to dealing with Section 25 Employees’ Compensation (EC) Recovery Claims. Specifically, EC legal costs will not be subject to the cap of Common Law damages (after deduction of Contributory Negligence).
The Decision
Up until now, it was previously held in Kan Che Sing v. Hop On Management Company Limited (DCPI 393/2016) – a judgment on 4 May 2020 by Deputy District Judge Connie Lee – that in Section 25 EC Recovery Claims, the recoverable sum of EC compensation and EC legal costs incurred by both the injured employee and employer cannot in total exceed the Common Law damages after deduction of Contributory Negligence.
In the latest judgment on 6 June 2023 by Deputy District Judge Rebecca Lee in Amjad-Ul-Mahmood v. Profit Hill International Holdings Limited & Anor (DCPI 534/2017), the Court took the opposite view that EC legal costs should not be part of the computation in Section 25 EC Recovery Claims.
In order words, only the recoverable sum of EC compensation should be capped by the amount of Common Law damages (after deduction of Contributory Negligence) – and the employer is entitled to recover EC legal costs incurred by both the injured employee and employer without subject to any cap.
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