Ten days to pay or you're going to prison. That's the verdict for one woman who ignored a court order.
In a judgment released yesterday in the High Court at Auckland, Justice Matthew Palmer found Hsiang-Fen Ying in contempt of court after she ignored the order to transfer a property owned by her and her husband to its rightful buyer, and instead sold the house to a third party for a higher price.
In 2013 Ying, and her husband, Jinyue Young, agreed to sell their Papatoetoe property, owned by their firm King David Investments, to Zie Zhang for $399,000. Zhang paid $30,000 in deposit on the property, but after a number of disputes Ying tried to withdraw the property from the sale.
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In July this year a jet-lagged Ying and Young appeared in court, complaining of diahorrea and nausea, having just returned from China where they had celebrated their son's graduation. After two days, a settlement was reached and signed by all parties involved.
The agreement stated they would perform the sale by September and pay $220,000 to Zhang by way of settlement.
However, the couple later claimed they were in no state to have signed the document, citing jet lag and sickness. Ying said she signed it because she felt she had no choice, while Young said he found it extremely difficult to focus and only glanced over it for a minute.
Young is a lawyer.
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Young took the issue to the Court of Appeal where the case was dismissed, with the court explaining it had no jurisdiction on the matter.
On the day after the Court of Appeal issued its minutes, Ying sold the house to a third party for $655,000.
The house, once sold, could not be recovered by Zhang.
That's when Zhang applied to the court for the arrest and imprisonment of Ying and Young for contempt of court "until they disgorge the proceeds of the sale of the property".
Ying and Young didn't appear in court at the set date. Instead, Ying liquidated King David Investments that day.
At a later appearance Ying claimed she liquidated the firm in order to pay bills, but the judge did not accept that. He said the timing was too coincidental.
"I find the company was liquidated in order to avoid the consequences of dishonouring the consent orders," Justice Palmer said.
Zhang has been awarded $506,000 comprised of the current market value of the property minus the original purchase price plus the $220,000 agreed upon in the first settlement.
Ying, found in contempt of court, must now pay the High Court a $10,000 fee within 10 days or face imprisonment.
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