Casamo & Associates just provided digital trial support to Hong Kong tycoon Eric Hotung in a recent defamation case. Click the link at the bottom for the full article:
A U.S. Verdict in a Hong Kong Tycoon Fight
For many years, Hong Kong tycoon Eric Hotung enjoyed rubbing shoulders with the power elite in Washington, D.C. But now Hotung says he’s done with D.C., Maryland, and Virginia and will not be coming back for the foreseeable future. The 86-year-old says that’s partly for health reasons but also because he has “lost all faith in the U.S. legal system.”
The source of his disillusionment is a U.S. defamation lawsuit filed against him, most recently in Virginia’s Fairfax County, by his illegitimate son Michael Hotung. Eric’s vow not to return came in a letter he sent in March to Dennis Smith, chief judge of the Fairfax County Circuit Court. In the letter, Eric conceded personal jurisdiction based on the McLean house but urged the judge to dismiss the case on grounds of forum non conveniens.
The letter did not have its intended effect. Last Wednesday, a seven-person jury found that Eric defamed Michael in a series of 2009 interviews with Chinese-language media in Hong Kong. They ordered him to pay $1.2 million in damages.
Though they only occasionally spill onto U.S. shores, legal battles between members of Hong Kong’s super-wealthy “tycoon” families are a staple of both the local court dockets and press coverage. At any given time, it seems some of the territory’s boldface names are suing their equally boldface-name parents or brothers and sisters over a chunk of business empire.
