Vallejos v Commissioner of Registration
On 30 September 2011, Justice Johnson Lam of the Court of First Instance of the High Court (CFI) ruled in Vallejos' case that existing legislation restricting FDHs from qualifying for permanent residence contravened the Hong Kong Basic Law. Lam also found that Vallejos and Domingo, but not the three other applicants, had fulfilled the condition of taking Hong Kong as their only permanent home and being ordinarily resident in Hong Kong for seven years. The Court of Appeal of the High Court overturned the CFI's decision on Vallejos' case on 28 March 2012. Vallejos and Domingo then jointly appealed to the Court of Final Appeal (CFA), which heard their case on 26–28 February 2013; the CFA rejected their appeal on 25 March 2013.
Point Lobos
In 1880, a lawsuit was filed in United States District Court to resolve the conflicting claims of more than two dozen putative property owners and squatters. On June 5, 1882, subject to confirmation of the original claim by Castro, the judges divided Escobar’s original land grant into 34 parcels. Later that year, Castro's original claim was validated by the court. The title was confirmed on December 24, 1885, and President Grover Cleveland signed the land patent on May 4, 1888, 35 years after Castro's initial filing. All of the 34 claims from the 1880 lawsuit were invalidated as a result.