Feuding family of late Hong Kong tycoon Henry Fok call for time out to consider alternatives to court battle
- Tycoon’s daughter Nora Fok granted adjournment of 48 hours to ‘find a way out’ of dispute over option to buy back a valuable share in a Guangzhou development
- Presiding judge says he would ‘welcome any serious attempt to settle’, noting that continuing the trial may not be good for the family’s image and reputation
The feuding members of late Hong Kong tycoon Henry Fok Ying-tung’s family have put the brakes on their ongoing court fight over his HK$11.3 billion estate in response to the judge’s call for them to consider alternatives to further litigation.
The High Court on Tuesday granted Nora Fok Lai-lor, the tycoon’s daughter, an adjournment of 48 hours, in an application that was also supported by her siblings and fellow plaintiffs, Benjamin Fok Chun-yue and Patricia Fok Lai-ping.
“Your lordship’s words at the close of play on Friday and yesterday have not fallen on deaf ears,” Nora’s counsel, Benjamin Yu SC, told Mr Justice David Lok Kai-hong. “Certainly it seems to us … there should be a serious attempt to try to find a way out instead of having final adjudication in this matter.”
But Yu added: “Asking for time should not be treated or seen as any indication we are less confident now.”
The three siblings have taken the rest of the family, and a number of companies, to court over a share of their father’s dream project in Nansha in Guangzhou, which was considered significant to the valuation of one of the late tycoon’s three flagship companies, Henry Fok Estates.
The tycoon married three times and had 13 children before he died of cancer at the age of 83 in 2006.
All family members and a number of companies reached a settlement over the estate in 2012.
