The Defendant in this recent case successfully relied on the defence of qualified privilege to defeat the Plaintiff’s defamation claim. The defence was raised in respect of alleged defamatory statements published by the chairperson of the management committee of the incorporated owners of a building to all owners of the building. Mr Justice David Lok observed that:
(1) The authorities show that there is a common interest among the owners of the building with regard to matters relating to the affairs of the building (§69); and
(2) A recognized occassion of qualified privilege is where the statement was made in reply to an attack (§70).
These observations are important in that they help understand the defence of qualified privilege in the context of building management.
Please click here to read the full judgement which will be reported shortly in the Hong Kong Cases.
Lawrence K F Ng (with Jason Pow SC) represented the Defendant in this case.
