This is a ruling by the Honourable Mr Justice Carlson on the costs of the two hearings on 16 August 2010 and 12 October 2010.

The hearing on 16 August 2010 concerned a garnishee order absolute which overstated the amount owed by the garnishee to the judgement debtor. A summons was issued by the judgment creditors to amend the order absolute and a cross-summons was issued by the garnishee to set aside the order absolute. The Court granted the order to amend the summons so as to correct the mistake and dismiss the garnishee’s summons.  For this occasion, the Court held that both parties should bear their own costs as both parties were in error.

At the hearing on 12 October 2010, an interested party, another judgment creditor of the judgment debtors, was directed by the Court to show cause why the garnishee should not pay out the payment to the judgement creditors. The interested party explained that she had extant bankruptcy proceedings against the judgment debt and that a payment out to the judgment creditors would amount to a preference over her and other judgment creditors. So far as the guarantee and the judgment creditors are concerned, the Court made no order for costs. There was no order for costs of the interested party. 

Hong Kong Dispute Resolution Bulletin: For full analysis of this case subscribe to the Sweet & Maxwell HKDRB, produced in association with Clifford Chance.

This article is available in [2010] 15 HKDRB.

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