Hong Kong judge dismisses passenger claim

A Hong Kong judge today dismissed a claim by a passenger that he had swallowed glass fragments in a glass of pineapple juice on a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight from Singapore to Hong Kong last year.

On 17 June 2002, Mr Stephen Graham Olding was awarded damages of HK$53,000 plus costs in the District Court of Hong Kong. On 2 July 2002, this Judgement was set aside on the following basis:

When ruling in favour of Mr Olding, the judge considered that the most important piece of evidence was a copy of a note from a radiologist at Tang Shiu Kin Hospital in Hong Kong, where Mr Olding had been examined in connection with his claim that he had ingested glass particles. This note, which was presented to SIA's lawyers by Mr Olding shortly before the trial, contained the comment "likely to be glass particle".

Acting on suspicions after the trial, SIA's lawyers contacted the examining radiologist at Tang Shiu Kin Hospital. He advised that his actual comment was "unlikely to be glass particle".

SIA's lawyers subsequently obtained an Order requiring Tang Shiu Kin Hospital to provide the original note. It was clear that the actual wording was "unlikely to be glass particle", and not "likely to be glass particle", which was the wording on the copy provided by Mr Olding.

SIA's lawyers presented this fresh evidence to the Judge who had presided over the initial trial in the Hong Kong District Court. The Judge set aside his original judgement and ordered that a retrial take place.

Judgement was handed down today following the retrial and Mr Olding's claim was dismissed in its entireity. SIA was awarded full costs and will now take steps to recover all its legal costs from the case.

SIA said today that it derived no satisfaction from today's civil judgement against Mr Olding but that it had been forced to maintain a defence in the retrial to protect its reputation, as there had been widespread media coverage of the initial decision.

A separate criminal action against Mr Olding, brought by the police in Hong Kong over the alleged falsified document presented to the court, is due to be heard in Hong Kong on 28 January 2003.