Hong Kong court orders trial to compensate Mo Li, dancer paralysed in Mirror show

A Hong Kong court has ordered a trial to determine the compensation sum to be paid to a dancer by his employer, after he was paralysed from the neck down in an accident at a concert featuring the popular boy band Mirror.\nDistrict Court judge Phillis Loh Lai-ping said on Friday she believed that Studiodanz, Mo Li Kai-yin’s employer at the time of the accident, was “evading civil responsibility” as its representatives had failed to attend any hearings in the case and had been uncontactable.\nLoh noted that Li’s lawyers had tried all possible means to deliver the relevant legal documents to the company’s registered address, but to no avail.\nEvidence showed that someone had been in Studiodanz’s office, as the registered mail had been signed for before being sent back, the judge added.\n“The court is satisfied that [the company] is evading civil responsibility,” she said.\nLoh said the lawsuit could not afford any further delay and directed a one-day trial to be held on May 4.\nThe trial will focus on deciding how much compensation Studiodanz is liable to pay Li, with the calculation to follow a statutory mechanism that allows workers to claim damages from injuries sustained during employment.\nThe 31-year-old Li, who has been paralysed from the neck down since the accident at Hong Kong Coliseum on July 28, 2022, stated in his writ that his monthly income was more than HK$73,000 (US$9,400) before the accident.\nLi could be entitled to more than HK$3.5 million if the court finds his injury resulted in permanent total incapacity, according to the Post’s estimate.\n\nSection 7 of the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance stipulates that an employee aged below 40 who is completely incapacitated for life is entitled to a lump sum payment equivalent to 96 months’ earnings, or HK$3,508,800, whichever sum is lower.\nJudge Loh told Li’s lawyer, Wendy Law Wai-ching, to include the medical expenses Li had claimed against the employer in his witness statement, to help the court in its calculation of the compensation amount.\nLi is expected to provide remote testimony at the trial about his income before the accident, as well as his medical expenses and losses due to the injury.\nReverend Derek Li Shing-lam, the dancer’s father, will also take the witness box to give an account of the income he has lost since he became his son’s carer.\n