Stephen Siu acts for Successful Plaintiff in Civil Contempt Case
In Wong Yam Yin v Gao Jinbo (王欽賢 訴 高景波) [2026] HKDC 933, the plaintiff, the founder and chairman of Golden Wheel Tiandi Holdings Company Limited (Stock Code: 1232) brought claims against the defendant for an injunction to restrain conduct constituting defamation, harassment, and intimidation. Upon the plaintiff’s application for urgent interlocutory injunctions, the defendant gave undertakings not to further publish defamatory content or any words with similar meaning and effect, as well as not to communicate with the plaintiff or his family members except through his legal representatives.
Notwithstanding these undertakings, the defendant continued to publish content defaming the plaintiff. Contempt proceedings were then commenced against the defendant for breach of his undertakings. Even for civil contempt proceedings, it is well-established that the burden is on the plaintiff to prove that the defendant is guilty of contempt of court, and to do so beyond reasonable doubt. In considering whether contempt has been established, the court adopts the following approach:
(1) The court will first construe the orders (or the undertakings) so as to ascertain their meaning and operation.
(2) The court will then determine whether the defendant has in fact complied with the orders (or the undertakings) as so construed.
(3) Finally, the court will consider whether any failure to comply was accompanied by the state of mind necessary to establish punishable contempt.
At trial, the defendant claimed that he did not understand the content of the undertakings, and that his then legal representatives did not explain the content of the undertakings to him. In rejecting the defendant’s evidence, the Court accepted the plaintiff’s submissions that the defendant had repeatedly changed his evidence under cross-examination, and he was indeed physically present at Court when the undertakings were given. The Court was satisfied that the plaintiff has proven beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty of contempt of court.
Stephen Siu, instructed by Felix Tong of Tung, Ng, Tse & Lam Solicitors, acted for the Plaintiff.
The full judgment can be viewed here:
See Stephen’s profile here: https://www.plowmanchambers.com/team/stephen-siu