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Development Secretary Paul Chan leaves court with his wife Frieda Hui and their son Chan Tian-hsing. Photo: Edward Wong

Jury rules development chief Paul Chan and wife lose defamation case

Development secretary and wife are ordered to pay HK$230,000 compensation after falsely accusing teenage twins of cheating in exam

JULIE CHU

Development Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po and his wife Frieda Hui Po-ming were yesterday found liable for defaming twins and their father over allegations of cheating at school.

The High Court ordered the couple to pay the pupils' family HK$230,000 in compensation.

The seven-woman jury found that all six emails sent by the couple about twins Jonathan and Caitlin Lu, as well as their father, school governor Carl Lu, between December 1 and 16, 2011, were defamatory, while four of them were also malicious.

When the forewoman delivered the verdict, Carl Lu and his wife, Frances, who had looked tense throughout the trial, smiled at each other. Chan and his family looked disappointed on the other side of the courtroom.

Jonathan and Caitlin Lu, now aged 20, were not in court yesterday as they have returned to the United States to continue their studies at Stanford University. As he left court, Carl Lu said he would be telling his children of the verdict soon.

In a statement outside the court, the Lu family's lawyer said: "The verdict is more than a clearing of a personal injustice. The jury's decision sends a clear message that adults cannot maliciously defame innocent children without consequences. We hope that no family will have to endure such a painful ordeal."

Paul Chan said he would be discussing the verdict with his lawyers.

The two sets of parents did not know each other before this case but their children were all year 13 students of the Chinese International School in 2011.

The court heard that four girls claimed they saw Jonathan Lu, the head boy of the school, and Caitlin Lu acting suspiciously in a test on November 24 that year. Rumours soon spread through the school that the twins cheated.

Frieda Hui claimed she heard the rumour from her daughter Joyce and began to send emails - jointly signed by her husband - to the school and about 10 parents in the same grade to talk about the incident.

Hui wrote "Head boy cheating" in the subject field of the emails. She claimed in the emails that she had heard the twins had not been punished because of their father's role as governor.

Justin Alexander, the head of the school's secondary section, told the court he called Hui on December 3 and told her the school conducted two investigations and both found the twins were innocent.

Hui denied the school head had ever told her about the investigations. She sent four more emails to parents and urged them to prompt the school to treat the allegation more seriously.

Hui insisted she wanted to protect the school's reputation and was not accusing any of the Lu family.

The court heard the school conducted a third investigation on December 15 which also found the twins innocent.

The school published a circular to all students the next day saying Jonathan had been cleared of the accusations. But Hui sent another accusatory email on December 16.

The Lu family requested the Chans apologise but they refused. The Lu family launched the lawsuit in March 2012.

Mr Justice Anthony To Kwai-fung told the jury to read the emails as an ordinary and reasonable reader. He said they not only had to find whether their contents were defamatory but also had to rule whether they were malicious.

 

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Paul Chan and wife lose defamation case
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