Courts may not hear claims whose court fees are unpaid; an agent who signs a cheque is personally liable on it

The principle

Courts at every level may not hear a claim, appeal or request on which the fees due under Abu Dhabi Law No. 6 of 2013 on court fees (as amended in 2016) have not been paid in full, unless an exemption or deferral was granted; this is a matter of public order. Fees are assessed per request, so an unpaid incidental or alternative request is inadmissible on its own while the main claim proceeds. Separately, under Article 599 of the Commercial Transactions Law an agent who draws a cheque on the principal's behalf is personally liable to endorsers and holders for provision of funds unless he proves the funds existed when it was issued.

The case and the decision

The claimant had acted under a power of attorney for a sole establishment trading in diesel and had given cheques drawn in her own name to a supplier. After she was convicted for issuing cheques without funds, she signed two settlements, recorded before the conciliation and reconciliation committee in 2010, admitting the debt. She sued to annul them for duress and, in a late memorandum, asked in the alternative that the establishment's owner and attorney be held liable for any sums owed. After a first cassation appeal and remittal, the Court of Appeal dismissed her claim and declared the alternative request inadmissible for non-payment of fees. On her second appeal (No. 50 of 2016, commercial), the chamber referred the question of fees on incidental requests to the General Assembly because of conflicting decisions.

The General Assembly held that a claim or request may be registered only after full payment of the fee unless an exemption or deferral is granted; disputes over the assessment go to the president of the court; fees are assessed on each request separately; checking that fees have been paid on every request is a matter of public order that the court must raise of its own motion; and an unpaid incidental request is inadmissible without affecting the main claim. It adopted the principle that no court may hear any claim, appeal or request for which fees under Law No. 6 of 2013, as amended by Resolution No. 2 of 2016 of the Chairman of the Judicial Department, are unpaid in whole or part, unless exempted or deferred.

On the merits, although an agent's acts within his authority bind the principal (Article 153 of the Civil Transactions Law), Article 599 of the Commercial Transactions Law makes the drawer of a cheque on another's account personally liable for provision unless he proves it existed. A cheque is presumed to have been given in payment of a debt. Her admissions in the official conciliation record bound her, duress had not been proved, and her alternative request, raised after the main claim, was an incidental request on which fees were due. The appeal was dismissed.

Laws applied

In the court’s words

“لا يجوز للمحاكم على اختلاف درجاتها أن تنظر أي دعوى أو طعن أو طلب فرض لها القانون رقم 6 لسنة 2013”

Short quotation from the judgment as published by the court. The full judgment is on the court’s official service.

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