Dubai Court of Cassation (General Assembly), Resolution No. 1 of 2023, 13 June 2023
Articles 44(1) and 48(2) of the Civil Procedure Code require statements of claim and defence memoranda to be filed electronically or on paper according to the system in use at the court, and the Dubai courts use electronic filing. Where a statement of claim, appeal or memorandum has been filed electronically, the parties are bound by the requests, grounds and arguments it contains, and that electronic document alone is what the court considers. Differently worded copies uploaded to the documents section of the archive, containing requests or grounds not in the electronic filing, are disregarded.
The President of the Court of Cassation referred to the General Assembly, under Article 20(a)(1) of Dubai Law No. 13 of 2016 on the Judicial Authority, the conflict between electronically filed statements of claim and memoranda and the copies of them archived in the case file.
The Assembly noted that Article 44(1) of Federal Decree-Law No. 42 of 2022 (Civil Procedure Code) provides that a claim is brought by filing the statement of claim with the case management office, or by registering it electronically or on paper, according to the system in use at the court, and that Article 48(2) requires the defendant to file, electronically or on paper, a signed defence memorandum and copies of documents within ten working days of service. Because the Dubai courts have adopted electronic registration of claims and appeals and electronic filing of memoranda, those who file them must do so electronically.
In practice, however, some parties had filed a statement of claim or memorandum electronically and then archived copies in the documents section that contained requests or grounds not found in the electronic filing. The Assembly found this contrary to the Civil Procedure Code, which requires the court's adopted system to be followed when bringing a claim or filing memoranda. It therefore resolved that, once a statement or memorandum has been filed electronically, the parties are bound by the requests, arguments and grounds stated in it, and it alone, not any archived copy, is before the court.
Litigation in Dubai is now largely electronic. This resolution means that relief or arguments appearing only in uploaded copies or attachments, and not in the electronically filed pleading itself, will not be treated as part of the case, which can affect what a court may award and what an appeal court will review.
| Articles 44(1) and 48(2) of Federal Decree-Law No. 42 of 2022 (Civil Procedure Code) — text of articles 44, 48 |
| Article 20 of Dubai Law No. 13 of 2016 on the Judicial Authority in the Emirate of Dubai (powers and majority of the General Assembly) |
“طالما قدمت الصحيفة او المذكرة الكترونيا وجوب الالتزام بما ورد بهما من طلبات واسانيد وأسباب”Short quotation from the judgment as published by the court. The full judgment is on the court’s official service.
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