About Eric
Eric is a Fellow of The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors (HKIS), a past chairman of the HKIS (Quantity Surveying Division) and a past vice-chairman the RICS Hong Kong Branch (Quantity Surveyors Division) having held senior management positions with an international construction contracts consultancy in its Hong Kong Office, and two leading local building and construction groups in Hong Kong.
Familiar with all standard forms of construction and engineering contracts (including main contract, specialist and domestic forms such as JCT, ICE, HKIS/ HKIA, GCC, and HKCA) Eric is a specialist construction barrister with extensive experience in different types of construction: buildings, tunnels, roads, bridges, airports, hospitals, piling, basements, pipelines, dredging, reclamation, mechanical, electrical and fire services installations, curtain wall and external façade works, fitting out and renovation works.
Within this specialist field, he has acted in various cases involving disputes in defects, final accounts, measurement, delay and disruption claims, professional negligence, insolvency and liquidation, bonds, warranties and guarantees, as well as contractual and statutory interpretation. Eric advises and acts for employers, developers, contractors, specialist and domestic sub-contractors, and professionals in court, arbitration, public inquiry and alternative dispute resolutions including acting as mediator.
Eric has appeared before the Court of First Instance, the Court of Appeal and the Court of Final Appeal on his own and as led-counsel involving trial and appeal in construction and building disputes, professional negligence, arbitration awards, statutory offences, shareholders disputes and family trust disputes.
Selected Cases
- Cheuk Shu Yin v. Yip So Wan and Another [2013] HKEC 1657
This case concerned members of a family pooling their resources together to acquire a subsidized home of the Home Ownership Scheme established under the Housing Ordinance Cap. 283. Eric represented a retired couple as lead counsel before the Court of Final Appeal. In this landmark case on Sections 17 and 18 of the Housing Ordinance, the court held that it would not be illegal for persons who were not entitled to purchase a subsidized home themselves to participate in the Home Ownership Scheme by providing funding to eligible individuals or households and thereby acquiring a beneficial interest in the home purchased upon the expiry of the restriction period specified in the statute.
- HKSAR v. Tsui Tack Kong & Others [2020] HKCFA 40
This case concerned offences under Section 40(2B)(b) of the Building Ordinance (Cap. 123) and the extent to which the court was required to consider in an appeal by way of rehearing the alleged material errors made by the trial magistrate and the extent to which the court was entitled to reassess the evidence based solely on the transcript and uphold the applicant’s conviction based on findings of act which differ from those of the trial magistrate. Eric acted as one of the junior counsel for the registered specialist contractor and its site representative in seeking leave to appeal their convictions.
- Chun Wo Construction & Engineering Co Ltd v. Hong Kong Housing Authority [2019] HKCA 369
As one of the junior counsel, Eric represented a group of contractors in appealing an arbitral award. The legal team successfully persuaded the Court of Appeal that it was no longer appropriate under Section 6(4)(c)(ii) of Schedule 2 to Arbitration Ordinance Cap. 609 to continue to apply “the strong prime facie case” test in determining whether leave should be granted for an error in principle under the “serious doubt” limb.
- So Kai Hau v. Wellgo Archdecor Consultancy Ltd & Others [2019] HKCA 617
The Garley Building fire disaster that occurred in 1996 resulted in the tragic loss of 40 lives. As a sequel to this tragic event, this civil action was brought against the contractor, the architect, the structural engineer of the demolition contract as well as the authorized person (AP) appointed under the preceding contract who carried out a survey of the fire damage to the building. As one of the junior counsel, Eric acted for the AP in his appeal against the court’s finding that he was, among others, contributorily negligent in causing the injury of a site worker who was injured by an explosion of a BTM Cylinder left redundant on site by one of the tenants. The Court of Appeal re-visited the law and circumstances in which acts of omission would amount to causing actionable damage.
- Maeda Corporation v. Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region [2014] HKLRD 1
As junior counsel in this landmark case on re-rating of bill rates under the Government of Hong Kong General Condition of Contract for Civil Engineering Works (1999 Edition) Eric represented the joint-venture contractors in their appeal against an arbitral award. The Court of Appeal provided guidance on what may satisfy the “general importance” threshold in Section 6(4)(c)(ii) for the purpose of granting leave to appeal on a question of law under Schedule 2 of the Arbitration Ordinance (Cap. 609). In this case, the Court of Appeal accepted that the particular loading of value into a bill rate (which necessarily turned on its own facts) and the commercial exercise of loading value into contract rates were of sufficient general prevalence that evaluation of its effect should be regarded as one of construction of a standard clause to which the “at least a serious doubt” test under Section 6(4)(c)(ii) should apply.
Education
- B.Sc. (Hons) in Quantity Surveying: 1986
- Postgraduate Diploma in Law: 1989