Lalwani versus CDNIS versus Lalwani Update: Strike out

The Sanjay Lalwani versus CDNIS case sees the presiding officer consider the implications of a strike out.

 

The Sanjay Lalwani case against his dismissal by CDNIS proceeding in the Labour Tribunal (the Tribunal) is adjourned until further notice as Mr Lalwani applied on November 24 to strike out a counterclaim by CDNIS against him in the High Court.

Sanjay Lalwani is  the claimant in a case against CDNIS for wrongful dismissal. The school has countersued, claiming that he did not disclose material information when first hired and subsequently during his employment (see previous coverage here for details). In addition, the school had previously applied to move proceedings from the Labour Tribunal to the more serious Court of First Instance.

Presiding officer Mr David Chum was supposed to announce in today’s (December 16) session his decision on whether to accept CDNIS’s request to transfer the case to higher Court of First Instance. He decided to suspend judgement until the strike out application in the High Court case is settled.

Mr Chum said if the strike out was successful, there will be no need to take the lawyer-free Tribunal case to the Court of First Instance, but the school side can still file an appeal.

Mr Lalwani had argued against the request as he would be dragged into an expensive, lengthy legal proceeding for which the school has significantly more resources to rely on.

“If the strike out fails, we will come back,” Mr Chum summed up. “We will have to wait longer.”

Mr Lalwani proposed resuming the hearing on June 21, 2016, but the presiding officer suggested it would be better to keep matters flexible depending on the status of the strike out application. The two sides agreed the statement was enough now.

Ms Melanie Hnetka, spokesperson of CDNIS, refused to provide updates on the cases in which the school is in disputes with its former employees, citing inappropriateness to comment on matters that are before the Tribunal.

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Alex Fok is a Harbour Times journalist monitoring Hong Kong’s daily political scene and diplomatic updates. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Economics, Politics and International Studies from University of Warwick and his master’s degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is a former committee member of the Warwick-based Hong Kong Public Affairs and Social Service Society (WHKPASS) and was the chief editor of the society’s magazine – PASSTIMES.
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Alex Fok is a Harbour Times journalist monitoring Hong Kong's daily political scene and diplomatic updates. He obtained his bachelor's degree in Economics, Politics and International Studies from University of Warwick and his master's degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is a former committee member of the Warwick-based Hong Kong Public Affairs and Social Service Society (WHKPASS) and was the chief editor of the society's magazine - PASSTIMES.