The copyright of this question paper belongs to The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Students must not copy this document or disclose or otherwise share this document or its
contents with third parties. In particular, uploading this document to the internet is strictly
prohibited.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Faculty of Law
Term Two 2022-2023 Take-home Assignment 2 - An Advice

Course code and title : LAWS6055 Principles of Mediation

Start date : 27 February 2023
Submission deadline : 13 March 2023, 11:00 pm

This paper has THREE (3) pages (including this cover page).
This is a TAKE HOME assignment - An Advice counting for 20% of the final mark for this
course.

Instructions to candidates:
1. This assignment consists of THREE (3) questions (Questions a to c). Answer ALL
questions.
2. Use no fewer than 1,000 but no more than 1,500 WORDS IN TOTAL for the THREE
(3) questions. The word count must be indicated in your answer paper.
3. Your answers must be typed using a computer and in English.
4. Your answer paper must show your student ID on the front page. You must not make any
reference to your name in your answer paper.
5. You may not discuss or collaborate with another person when completing this assignment.
6. Your answers must be your own work. You may consult any sources in preparing your
answer paper. Sources are not restricted to those discussed in class. When you use sources,
cite them adequately for identification. You are expected to know and abide by the
University’s plagiarism policy. Copying another person’s work or using language or ideas
without proper attribution is subject to disciplinary action, as appropriate, and can lead to
your failure of the course.
7. Submission of your answer paper: You must submit your answer paper in PDF format
electronically to the Blackboard course site for the above course by 11:00pm, 13 March
2023.
8. Submission of your duly signed VeriGuide Receipt: By 11:00pm, 15 March 2023, you
must
(i) upload your answer paper to the CUHK VeriGuide system at
https://academic2.veriguide.org/portalcuhk/;
(ii) duly sign the receipt issued by the VeriGuide system containing a declaration of
honesty statement (the VeriGuide Receipt); and
(iii) upload the duly signed VeriGuide Receipt to the Blackboard course site.
9. If either the answer paper or the VeriGuide Receipt is submitted after the applicable
deadline or if the VeriGuide Receipt is not duly signed, the answer paper will receive a
mark of zero and a grade of F. No late submission will be accepted.

Page 1 of 3
 The copyright of this question paper belongs to The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Students must not copy this document or disclose or otherwise share this document or its
contents with third parties. In particular, uploading this document to the internet is strictly
prohibited.

Formatting Requirements
1. Times New Roman font;
2. Body: 12-point type; footnotes: 10-point type;
3. 1-inch margins, top and bottom, left and right;
4. 1.5 line spacing;
5. Footnotes and page numbers at the bottom of the page;
6. Your student number BUT NOT YOUR NAME clearly marked in the header on page 1;
7. If footnotes are required, citations should be in accordance with the “Faculty of Law Legal
Citation Style Guide” as shown in the CUHK Law Library website:
https://libguides.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/ld.php?content_id=9965973.

***************************************************************************

Your friend, Tracy, is an owner of a pet shop known as Cute Pets. She consulted you about a
problem that she had with her customer, Mrs. Wong.

Two months ago, Mrs Wong visited Cute Pets with her children and bought an African Spurred
Tortoise (the “Tortoise”) at the price of HK$10,000. Unfortunately, the Tortoise died the next
day after the purchase. Mrs Wong was very angry that she returned to Cute Pets and confronted
Tracy. She suspected that the Tortoise was ill when Tracy sold it to her. Tracy had no idea why
the Tortoise died, but she reassured Mrs Wong that the health condition of the Tortoise was
excellent at the time of the sale. Given the unfortunate circumstances, Tracy offered to sell a
second tortoise (the “Second Tortoise”) to Mrs Wong at a discounted price of HK$7,000. She
also asked Mrs Wong to contact her if she had problems taking care of the Second Tortoise.
Unfortunately, the Second Tortoise also died a week after Mrs Wong purchased it.

Thereafter, Tracy found that there were a lot of statements and remarks on the social media
accounts of Cute Pets, where Mrs Wong told stories about her purchases at Cute Pets. She
commented that Cute Pets sold “sick tortoises at extortionate prices” and did business in an
“underhanded manner”. She also said that Tracy was an unscrupulous merchant and betrayed
the trust of customers. Mrs Wong’s comments led to extensive discussions about Cute
Pets/Tracy on the web; those remarks were cynical and harsh, and some even amounted to
personal attacks on Tracy. A lot of these statements were exaggerations about the situation and
were untrue. Tracy was very stressed and frustrated and did not know how to bring these
comments to a halt. Although she tried to reach out to Mrs Wong, Mrs Wong shouted at her on
the phone and demanded Tracy to make an open apology and pay a substantial sum of damages.

Tracy insisted that she did nothing wrong and both tortoises were healthy when Mrs Wong
bought them. Nonetheless, those two were infant tortoises. The change in the environment
might have caused stress to these little animals. She cannot recall if she made these reminders
at the time of the sale. It is now difficult to tell the causes of the death when Mrs Wong disposed
of the bodies of the tortoises.

A friend of Tracy (who is a dispute resolution lawyer) advised that these remarks were
defamatory. She could commence proceedings in court and seek an injunction against Mrs

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LAWS6055 Principles of Mediation Term Two 2022/23_An advice

 The copyright of this question paper belongs to The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Students must not copy this document or disclose or otherwise share this document or its
contents with third parties. In particular, uploading this document to the internet is strictly
prohibited.

Wong. She was told that the ballpark sum of legal costs for making an application in court for
an interim injunction would be around HK$200,000. If Mrs Wong contests the proceedings,
the estimate of the total sum of legal costs, up to the trial of the action, will be at least
HK$800,000.

Tracy asked for your opinion if she should commence legal proceedings against Mrs Wong.
She is worried that although the injunction may stop the defamatory comments, the publicity
of the proceedings may bring further harm to the reputation of Cute Pets. Her cash flow is also
tight and may not be able to afford to bring the proceedings to a full trial. The business of Cute
Pets also dropped by 80% after these remarks were made by Mrs Wong on the social media.

Please answer ALL three questions below:

a. Regarding the situation between Tracy/Cute Pets and Mrs Wong, discuss and explain two
possible dispute resolution options that are open to Tracy/Cute Pets, which includes the
nature and the steps involved (30 marks). What are the advantages and disadvantages of
using those two options in resolving the problem with Mrs Wong? (20 marks)

b. What is your recommendation to Tracy on the dispute resolution strategy? Please explain
with reference to her interests and alternatives in this dispute. (20 marks)

c. Mrs Wong demanded an open apology in writing from Tracy/Cute Pets and sought
damages of HK$100,000 on her phone call with Tracy. Tracy was concerned about the
legal consequences of making an apology. Please advise Tracy on the following:

(i) what is the law of apology in Hong Kong and the legal principles applicable if she
is going to engage in settlement discussions with Mrs Wong (15 marks)

(ii) If Tracy wishes to settle this dispute with Mrs Wong, please advise on the terms of
a counter-proposal regarding the demand for apology. Explain your answer. (15
marks)

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LAWS6055 Principles of Mediation Term Two 2022/23_An advice