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Private bid to disqualify two Hong Kong lawmakers in doubt after failure to pay deposit
Judge expresses surprise that man’s lawyers failed to advise him to pay a fee needed to kick-start action; he will rule later on whether the case should continue
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A private citizen’s legal bid to disqualify two Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers could be in jeopardy, after a judge on Wednesday expressed surprise that his lawyers had failed to advise him to pay a fee needed to kick-start the action.
Retiree Lo King-yeung lodged lawsuits in March through law firm Chin and Associates against “king of votes” Eddie Chu Hoi-dick – who won the largest number of votes in the Legislative Council polls in September last year – and university lecturer Cheng Chung-tai of Civic Passion.
The legal action followed the disqualification of six other lawmakers since November after a judge ruled in two separate judicial reviews launched by the government that they failed to take their oaths solemnly in October last year.
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Lo is alleging that Chu and Cheng failed to take their oaths properly.
Even though Lo engaged two law firms and made two payment attempts, his legal representatives neglected to help him actually lodge the deposit, known as the security cost, needed to initiate civil action.
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The court heard that the fee, which is at most HK$40,000, had still not been paid, four months after the writ was filed on March 4, although the city’s top court had previously ruled that such a payment should be given priority.
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