Litigation & Dispute Resolution

On 10 February 2025, the Development Bureau (“DEVB”) issued a suite of model adjudication documents (“Model Documents”), including a set of model adjudication rules (“Model Rules”). This suite of Model Documents is not issued so as to be binding or operative in their own right. Rather, they are issued as guidance (perhaps strong guidance) for the various entities who will apply to Government to be recognised as approved adjudicator nominating bodies, “ANBs”, for the purposes of the Construction Industry Security of Payment Ordinance (Cap. 652) (“Ordinance”). Although it remains uncertain to what extent the Model Documents will be adopted by nominating bodies, the Model Documents offer a preview of how the Ordinance might function when it comes into operation on 28 August 2025.

In Wang & Lee Contracting Ltd v Young Kwong Pui Trading as In Tech Engineering [2025] HKDC 66 (Date of Decision: 3 January 2025), the District Court ordered the court proceedings to be stayed and that the plaintiff’s claims be referred to arbitration. The court’s decision to grant a stay in favour of arbitration is entirely unsurprising and is consistent with Hong Kong courts’ pro-arbitration stance. What this article will explore is how this dispute might have proceeded along a different trajectory if the newly enacted Construction Industry Security of Payment Ordinance (Cap 652) (“Ordinance”) had been in force and applied to this dispute and the facts leading up to it.

The Court of Appeal has handed down its judgment in the case of Prismall v Google UK Ltd and DeepMind Technologies Ltd [2024] EWCA Civ 1516. Finding for Google, the Court of Appeal upheld the lower Court’s decision to strike out the claim, and offered some further guidance on the threshold to be met for a claim to proceed as a representative action under CPR 19.8, particularly in relation to claims for the misuse of private information. The Court of Appeal explained that “a representative class claim for misuse of private information is always going to be very difficult to bring”. This is because the circumstances of individual claimants will affect the determination as to whether any particular claimant has a reasonable expectation of privacy. This will in turn affect whether all members of the represented class can meet the required “same interest” test in order to found a representative action under CPR 19.8 (see our previous article).

We explore the trends for Business and Commercial Disputes in the UK, US and France/EU in 2025. Here's what you should know. UK In the spotlight: corporates asserting privilege against shareholders Continued focus on litigation funding Increase in open justice Easier enforcement Court-compelled Negotiated Dispute Resolution – watch this space France Rise of mass claims in France and rise of class actions in France and the EU The new EU product liability directive adopted on October 11, 2024 Rise of ESG related claims US More M&A deals means more post-closing disputes? Head off rising number of workplace issues with internal investigations Disclosure of litigation funding in the United States