Abu Dhabi Court of Cassation (General Assembly), Request No. 5 of 2023 (Commercial), decision of 30 October 2023
A judgment of the Court of Appeal can be challenged in cassation only if the claim exceeds AED 500,000 or is of unassessable value (Article 175(1) of the Civil Procedure Law). Under Article 51(9), claims arising from a single legal cause are valued together, but claims arising from different legal causes are valued individually, even if pleaded in one statement of claim. An insurer's recovery claims against another insurer for many separate traffic accidents rest on different causes; only a claim based on a settlement agreement between them would have a single cause. Interest accruing after filing is not added.
An insurance company sued another insurer in the Abu Dhabi Commercial Court for AED 2,944,304.52 plus 12% interest, being the cost of repairing vehicles it had insured comprehensively, damaged in accidents caused by vehicles insured by the defendant; the statement of account listed 451 separate claims of between AED 2,000 and AED 60,000. The court awarded the amount with 3% interest and the Court of Appeal upheld the judgment. On the defendant's appeal in cassation (No. 661 of 2023), the commercial chamber referred the matter to the General Assembly because some judgments had held that multiple claims arising from different legal causes, none above the AED 500,000 threshold, cannot be taken to cassation, while others had aggregated claims said to share a single cause.
The General Assembly applied Article 175(1) of Federal Decree-Law No. 42 of 2022 (cassation lies where the claim exceeds AED 500,000 or is unassessable), Article 50 (value assessed on the day of filing, on the last requests, including interest and accessories then due) and Article 51(9) (claims arising from one legal cause are valued together; claims arising from different legal causes are valued separately). The legal cause is the event from which the claimant derives the right, not the arguments or evidence; where the parties have concluded a settlement agreement, that agreement becomes the single cause. Following appeals 785/2023, 1177/2020 (commercial) and 221/2020 (civil), it adopted the principle that subrogation claims by one insurer against another arising from multiple traffic accidents are valued individually, but a claim based on a settlement agreement between them is valued as a whole.
Deciding the appeal itself, the General Assembly found that the 451 claims were in reality independent claims, none exceeding AED 500,000, and that interest falling due after filing is not added. It declared the appeal inadmissible, ordered the appellant to pay costs and AED 1,000 in legal fees, and ordered forfeiture of the deposit.
Claimants that bundle many small receivables into one lawsuit, such as insurers, lessors or suppliers with many invoices, may find that the resulting judgment cannot be taken to the Court of Cassation if each item arises from a separate cause. Conversely, consolidating the debts into a settlement agreement creates a single cause, so the combined amount counts toward the AED 500,000 threshold.
| Articles 50, 51(9) and 175(1) of Federal Decree-Law No. 42 of 2022 (Civil Procedure Law) — text of articles 50, 51, 175 |
| Articles 2, 3, 7, 10, 10 bis (1) and (2) and 36 of Abu Dhabi Law No. 23 of 2006 on the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, as amended by Law No. 13 of 2018 |
“الناشئة عن حوادث مرور متعددة بهدف استرجاع ما تم سداده للمتضررين يكون التقدير فيها باعتبار قيمة كل طلب فيها على حدة”Short quotation from the judgment as published by the court. The full judgment is on the court’s official service.
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