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Recommendation 29: Insurers (or lead insurers) and the Hong Kong Motor
Insurers Bureau should be authorized to sign a statement of truth to verify a
pleading on behalf of the party or parties concerned (along the lines of
(ii)
Front-end loading of costs
Several persons responding to the consultation
expressed concern that imposing a
requirement for verification was likely to lead to an undesirable front-end loading of
costs.
The Working Party's view is that provided pleadings are correctly approached in the
light of their proper functions and purposes, the proposed verification requirement
should not result in any unjustified front-loaded costs.
Thus, as discussed above, pleadings should not seek to lay out the evidence or recite
every detail of a party's case. They should convey the nature of the case, stating the
material facts in a manner which avoids both excessive sparsity and excessive detail.
Properly drawn pleadings therefore do not call for front-end work on such detail or
evidence and the verification requirement does not pre-suppose any greater
exploration of the same. If, in good faith, a party reasonably verifies a pleading and
subsequently discovers that it contains errors, that pleading may duly be amended,
verifying the amendment.
Notes
Including the Bar Association and the APAA. The High Court masters supported the initiative but
thought that costs and delays might increase if the sanctions were too severe.
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