Feb. 6, 2007 (China Knowledge) – Sino Land <83> subsidiary Mariner International Hotels will be refunded its HK$321 million deposit on a disputed hotel development after Hong Kong’s highest court yesterday overturned two lower court judgments against the firm.

The Court of Final Appeal ruled that the vendor, Hang Lung Group <10> subsidiary Atlas, had repudiated the sale contract for the 438-room Bay Bridge Hotel by not providing the HK$1.07 billion hotel in a condition free from "non-trifling patent defects" by the agreed date.

In earlier court battles, the two sides argued over patent defects in the building such as leaks and sealing of holes where pipes penetrated the floors. Sino had paid a deposit and installments amounting to HK$321 million by the time that it terminated the sale and purchase agreement June 30, 1998, for the hotel.

In December 2005, the Court of Appeal upheld a 2004 decision by Mr Justice Michael Burrell that Atlas had delivered on the contract and Mariner had forfeited its deposit when it refused to take possession of the building.

But Mariner argued that the contract with Atlas called for the delivery of a "turnkey" hotel project by the allotted date, and that the lower courts’ decisions were flawed.

After Monday's court ruling, Hang Lung Group's share price plunged 5.03% to close at HK$27.35 while Sino Land's share price climbed 1.32% to HK$18.46.