The Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal has rejected the latest appeal in the long-running Lau Man Sang v King Bun Limited (Claim No. BVIHCMAP2025/0003).
The appeal arose out of the defendants’ failure to attend the quantum trial in a derivative action. At the quantum trial, the defendants were ordered to pay around US$97m in equitable compensation and pre-judgment interest to the company.
The Commercial Court thereafter rejected the defendants’ application to set aside the quantum judgment. The court held that they had no good reason for not attending the trial in circumstances where they knew following the CMC in May 2023 that the intention was for the trial to take place in November 2023, and took no steps to contact their lawyers or the court to find out whether the trial was proceeding in that window.
The defendants appealed. In a 113-page written judgment handed down on 30 January 2026, the Court of Appeal dismissed the defendants’ appeal. The Court of Appeal underscored the need for litigants to maintain effective systems for managing litigation and drew on the English case law in respect of the threshold for set aside applications.
James Bailey (led by Jern-Fei Ng KC of Duxton Hill Chambers) acted for the successful respondents and was instructed by Jerry Samuel, Norman Hau and Alecia Johns of Conyers.
