Courts & arbitration: UAE case law

Supreme courts may reconsider their own final criminal judgments under the Civil Procedure Law's reconsideration rules

Article 1(5) of the Criminal Procedure Law applies the Civil Procedure Law where the criminal code has no specific provision. Reconsideration (rujuu) of a final judgment under Article 190 of the Civil Procedure Law is a general procedural rule, not an…

An appeal court that refuses a payment order must decide the merits itself instead of remitting the claim

Where a creditor starts by petitioning for a payment order and, on appeal against the order, the appeal court finds that the conditions for issuing it are not met, the court must not stop at refusing the order or declaring the petition inadmissible, and…

Parties cannot agree to litigate before the courts of a different judicial authority; this jurisdiction is public order

Under Article 104 of the Constitution, each emirate's local judicial authority handles all judicial matters not entrusted to the federal judiciary, within the borders of that emirate. Each local judiciary is therefore a judicial authority independent of…

A cheque returned because the account is closed is an execution title, like one returned for lack of funds

Article 667 of the Commercial Transactions Law makes a cheque on which the drawee bank has recorded that there are no funds or insufficient funds an execution title, which the holder may enforce wholly or partly by compulsory means. The Authority held that…

Entities wholly owned by the federal government are outside the Companies Law and litigate only before federal courts

Under Article 4(1)(b) of the Commercial Companies Law, companies wholly owned by the federal or a local government or their institutions, bodies or subsidiaries are excluded from the law, apart from registration, in matters for which their founding…

A dissolved company keeps its legal personality until liquidation ends, and a custodian's appearance cures a standing defect

A company dissolved by judgment is treated as continuing, with its legal personality, for the needs of liquidation until liquidation is complete, so that its claims can be collected, its debts paid and the balance divided among the partners, and to protect…

A claim over an employer's failure to register a worker for pension is a labour dispute needing prior referral

A court must itself determine the correct legal characterisation of a claim from what is actually sought and the legal basis on which it rests, whatever kind of liability or provision the claimant invokes. A former employee's claim for sums arising from…

A cheque bearing the executory formula can still be contested as a security cheque in a substantive execution dispute

A cheque is a means of payment that carries in itself the presumption of the cause for which it was handed to the payee, but the drawer may rebut that presumption, dispute the debt and prove that he has been discharged in whole or in part. Placing the…

Waiver of an arbitration clause is never presumed and must appear clearly from the contract read as a whole

The trial court interprets contracts free from cassation review only while it stays within what the words can bear and does not depart from their apparent meaning. A waiver of an arbitration clause is not presumed: it must be proved and drawn from the…

Time to challenge an order enforcing an arbitral award runs only from valid notification of the order

Taking procedural steps in the presence of the parties is a fundamental principle of civil procedure and a matter of public order. Time limits for challenging judgments are open until the losing party is notified with certainty, by the ordinary methods and…

Interim ADGM Courts orders in an administration do not conflict with a final Dubai judgment against the same company

The Federal Supreme Court resolves conflicts of jurisdiction between the federal judiciary and a local judicial authority, or between judicial authorities of different emirates, where each claims or declines jurisdiction or each issues a final judgment…

An appeal fee paid within the thirty-day appeal period is timely; the three-day fee rule governs only new claims

Registering a claim or an appeal involves three steps: filing the statement, paying the fee and entry in the register. A first-instance claim takes effect from filing if the fee is paid within three working days. That three-day rule does not govern…

Contradictory judgments of the same emirate's courts are not a conflict for the Federal Supreme Court to resolve

The Federal Supreme Court's conflict jurisdiction covers clashes between the federal judiciary and local judicial authorities, or between the judicial authorities of different emirates, where each claims or declines jurisdiction or each issues a judgment…

Judgments differing in parties, subject and cause do not conflict, as with a bank suing as endorsee of cheques

A conflict between two final judgments, for the Federal Supreme Court's conflict jurisdiction, exists only where the later judgment contradicts an earlier one that has become res judicata on an issue between the same parties, decided in its operative part…

A challenge to an insurance committee decision belongs to the court where the harm occurred, here Dubai

Each emirate that keeps its own judiciary forms a judicial authority independent of the federal courts and of the other emirates. The distribution of jurisdiction between them is public order: courts must keep within it, parties cannot vary it, and a…

Where final judgments of the Dubai and Sharjah courts contradict, the Federal Supreme Court decides which one is enforced

A conflict of jurisdiction under Articles 33(9)-(10) and 60 of the 1973 law on the Federal Supreme Court includes contradictory final judgments given by courts of different judicial systems; the aim is to settle disputes over enforcing such judgments. A…

A bank that discussed a copy of its deposit certificate cannot later deny it and must account for the deposit

Under Article 18 of the Evidence Law (Federal Law No. 10 of 1992), a party may ask the court to order its opponent to produce a document in its possession that is common to both and records their mutual rights and obligations. A party who has discussed the…

Service by newspaper is void if electronic service on the defendant's officially recorded phone numbers was not tried first

Under Article 6(1) and (3) of Cabinet Resolution No. 57 of 2018 (the implementing regulation of the Civil Procedure Law then in force), a defendant is served by recorded calls, text messages, smart applications, email, fax or other modern means, or…

An employer's request to set off a loan against end-of-service gratuity must be made at first instance

A request that the court set off a sum the defendant claims from the plaintiff, such as an employer's demand to deduct a loan from the employee's end-of-service gratuity, is an incidental claim and not a defence on the merits, because judicial set-off…

An arbitral award can be attacked only by an annulment action, and a cassation appeal must target the resulting judgment

Article 53 of the Federal Arbitration Law (Federal Law No. 6 of 2018) lays down the only way to object to an arbitral award: an action for annulment brought directly before the court, or raised while an application to confirm the award is being heard, on…

A conflict-of-jurisdiction claim is premature while the Abu Dhabi and Dubai courts have not yet ruled on jurisdiction

Under Articles 33(9)-(10) and 60 of Federal Law No. 10 of 1973 on the Federal Supreme Court, the Court alone resolves conflicts of jurisdiction between the federal courts and the courts of an emirate, or between the courts of different emirates. A conflict…

A defendant that pleads on the merits before invoking the arbitration clause loses the right to rely on it

Under Article 8(1) of the Federal Arbitration Law (Federal Law No. 6 of 2018), a court seised of a dispute covered by an arbitration agreement must declare the claim inadmissible if the defendant so pleads before making any request or defence on the…

Claims by or against a federal authority belong to the federal courts, not to an emirate's local courts

Under Article 102 of the Constitution, civil, commercial and administrative disputes between the Federation and individuals, whether the Federation is claimant or defendant, fall within the jurisdiction of the federal courts to the exclusion of any other.…

An execution judge's order enforcing a foreign arbitral award could be appealed directly to the Court of Appeal

Under Article 72(2)(a) of Cabinet Resolution No. 57 of 2018 (the implementing regulation of the Civil Procedure Law then in force), an execution judge's decision on whether he has jurisdiction to enforce an execution title may be appealed directly to the…

An employer's admission that a bonus was promised on conditions cannot be split to enforce the promise alone

An admission, judicial or not, is a person's acknowledgment of a right against him that relieves the other party of proving it; it binds only if it establishes the right with certainty and the person making it understood and intended its effect. A…

Laws changing court jurisdiction do not apply to cases whose first-instance pleadings closed before they took effect

Procedural laws apply immediately to pending cases, but provisions that amend jurisdiction, whether by subject-matter, type, value or territory and whether in civil or criminal procedural legislation, do not apply where they come into force after the close…

Since the 2025 amendment, an appeal statement must set out detailed grounds when filed, or the appeal is inadmissible

Article 164 of the Civil Procedure Code, as replaced by Federal Decree-Law No. 22 of 2025, removed the former paragraph 3 that allowed an appellant to file the grounds of appeal up to the first hearing. Every statement of appeal, of whatever kind, must now…

Dubai courts cannot hear a standalone action to annul a UAE Sports Arbitration Centre award; objections go to enforcement

Under Federal Law No. 16 of 2016 establishing the UAE Sports Arbitration Centre and the Centre's Procedural Rules (second edition, in force from 25 October 2023), awards, decisions and orders of the Centre in sports disputes are final, carry res judicata…

A creditor's claim against a garnishee who fails to declare is a merits case, not one for the execution judge

Under Articles 255, 256 and 259 of the Civil Procedure Code, a garnishee that neither deposits what it holds nor declares, within seven days of service of the attachment, what it owes the debtor, or that declares insufficiently or untruthfully or hides…

Personal status courts hear only spouses' claims over the marital home; other money disputes go to ordinary courts

Article 51 of Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024 on Personal Status gives each spouse a separate estate and allows a spouse who helped develop the other's assets or build a home 'or the like' to claim his or her share, during the marriage, after separation,…

Reconsideration under Article 190 is available against Cassation rulings on remand points until the remand court decides

Article 190 of the Civil Procedure Code is an exception to res judicata that lets the Court of Cassation revoke its own final judgments or chamber decisions in limited cases. When it quashes and remits, the remand court is bound by the points of law…

Bankruptcy petitions belong to the court of the debtor's place of business, and jurisdiction rulings can reach cassation

Article 265(2) of the 2023 Bankruptcy Law makes final the Court of Appeal's judgments on challenges to decisions of the bankruptcy court; as an exception it is read narrowly and covers only judgments on the bankruptcy procedure itself, so judgments on…

The 30-day limit for annulling an award runs only from the tribunal's notification of it to that party

Article 54(2) of the Federal Arbitration Law bars an annulment action brought more than 30 days after the award is notified to the party seeking annulment, and Article 44 requires the tribunal to notify each party by delivering a signed original or copy…

The agreed legal seat, not the institution or its rules, decides which court hears an action to annul an award

The seat (legal place) of arbitration is the jurisdiction in which the arbitration takes place, and it determines the law governing the procedure, the court supervising the arbitration and hearing annulment actions, and whether the award is domestic or…

An optional arbitration clause does not oust the courts, and the new five-year limit for traders runs from 2023

An agreement to arbitrate is not presumed: its wording must show that the parties made arbitration the only way to resolve their disputes. A clause that sits alongside the courts' jurisdiction or offers a choice between them, such as one allowing either…

Once bankruptcy proceedings open, the bankruptcy court alone decides disputes over the debtor company's debts

Under Federal Decree-Law No. 51 of 2023 on Financial Reorganisation and Bankruptcy, the specialised bankruptcy court has exclusive jurisdiction over all requests and proceedings in bankruptcy cases, including disputes over a company's debts, from the…

Failure to involve the Public Prosecution where its intervention is mandatory makes a civil judgment absolutely void

Under Articles 63 to 72 of the Civil Procedure Code, the Public Prosecution must intervene (except in urgent matters) in cases it may itself bring, in cases concerning persons lacking or with limited capacity and absent or missing persons, in cases on…

A sale contract e-signed through the Land Department's system binds the buyer and defeats a bare forgery claim

Under Articles 54 to 58 of the Evidence Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 35 of 2022), electronic evidence, including electronic records, signatures and correspondence such as email, has the same effect as written evidence; formal electronic evidence, including…

An arbitration clause binds only its parties, and enforcing a cheque in Dubai courts can waive it

A party who relies on an arbitration agreement must raise it before making any request or defence on the merits (Article 8(1) of the Federal Arbitration Law). The right to arbitrate may be waived expressly or impliedly, but implied waiver requires conduct…

A party may resist enforcement of an award on annulment grounds even after the time to sue for annulment has passed

Under Articles 55 and 57 of the Federal Arbitration Law, an award may be challenged either by an action for annulment or during the application to confirm and enforce it. A party who has not sued for annulment may still object to the enforcement order by a…

In medical negligence, limitation ran from the committee's final report, and damages must be itemised head by head

Under Federal Decree-Law No. 4 of 2016 on medical liability, only the medical liability committees may give an opinion on whether a medical error occurred, its cause, the resulting harm and causation; the higher committee's report is final, and a damages…

A creditor whose payment order and asset freeze are later overturned is not liable without abuse of right

Under Articles 104 and 106 of the Civil Transactions Law, no one is liable for harm resulting from the lawful exercise of a right, including the right to go to court. The exercise of a right is unlawful, and gives rise to liability, if it is intended to…

A lawyer with a written fee agreement sues for fees by ordinary action before the competent court of first instance

Under Article 52 of Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2022 regulating the advocacy and legal consultancy professions, a lawyer is paid according to the written agreement with the client, and a claim for agreed fees is brought by ordinary action before the court…

A mortgaged property's auction award can be appealed only for defects in the bidding, its form or a missed stay

Under Article 300(1) of the Civil Procedure Code, a judgment awarding a property at auction may be appealed only for a defect in the bidding procedure or in the form of the judgment, or because it was issued without a stay that was legally required.…

A developer in breach of its own obligations cannot use the Land Department procedure to cancel an off-plan sale

Article 11 of Dubai Law No. 13 of 2008 lets a developer terminate an off-plan sale and retain no more than a set percentage of the price, according to the stage of completion, after notifying the Land Department, which gives the buyer 30 days to perform.…

A claim that an Emirati partner's 51 per cent holding was nominal cannot be sent to arbitration

Arbitration may not be agreed on matters that cannot be the subject of compromise (Article 4(2) of the Federal Arbitration Law). A claim that a UAE national's 51 per cent holding in a company was nominal, brought on the footing of the former rule requiring…

A properly filed and served claim interrupts limitation even if it is later dismissed or declared inadmissible

Under Article 484 of the Civil Transactions Law the limitation period is interrupted by a judicial claim, or any judicial step by which the creditor asserts its right against the debtor, before the courts or an arbitral tribunal. A statement of claim filed…

A debtor may not be detained unless the creditor proves solvency or a listed exception applies

Under Article 319 of the Civil Procedure Code (outside the public-funds recovery regime), an execution judge may order the detention of a debtor able to pay who refuses to satisfy an executory instrument. Detention is not allowed unless the creditor proves…

Service-charge claims under Dubai's jointly owned property law belong exclusively to the Rental Disputes Centre, including older debts

Article 42 of Dubai Law No. 6 of 2019 on jointly owned real property, in force from 9 November 2019, gives the Rental Disputes Settlement Centre exclusive jurisdiction over all disputes concerning the rights and obligations under that Law, and Article…

A good-faith buyer is protected against the true owner when the seller's title is later invalidated

A disposition made by an owner whose own transaction or title is later invalidated, in favour of a third party acting in good faith, is effective against the true right-holder, in actions of unenforceability and in title claims alike, provided the third…

The Attorney General's one-year period to appeal in the interest of the law is suspended while a party's appeal is pending

Under Article 176 of the Civil Procedure Code, the Attorney General may challenge in cassation, within one year of its issue, a final judgment that breaches the law where the parties could not challenge it, missed the deadline, waived the challenge, or had…

Appeal judgments in substantive enforcement disputes, unlike those on pure enforcement steps, can be challenged in cassation

The Civil Procedure Code distinguishes temporary enforcement disputes, which seek only a stay or continuation of enforcement without touching the right and are decided by the execution judge subject to a final grievance (Articles 209 and 239), from…

An appeal court that overturns a judgment for applying the wrong law must decide the merits itself

Under Article 168 of the Civil Procedure Code, where the court of first instance has decided the merits, a Court of Appeal that sets the judgment aside must go on to decide the dispute; it remits the case only where the first-instance court declined…

A court may rely on an expert report filed in another case, even one before a court lacking jurisdiction

An expert report prepared in another case, even one heard by a court without territorial jurisdiction or between different parties on a different subject, may be relied on by the trial court once the report or a copy has been filed in the case. It then…

A debtor company's trade licences and other intangible business assets can be attached by its creditors

All of a debtor's assets secure its debts (Article 391 of the Civil Transactions Law), and a creditor may attach the debtor's movable and immovable property except what the law exempts (Articles 242 and 247 of the Civil Procedure Code). Attachable property…

Challenges to insurance-committee decisions issued before 1 December 2023 go to first instance, later ones to appeal

Federal Decree-Law No. 48 of 2023 on Regulating Insurance Activities, in force from 1 December 2023, sends challenges against decisions of the insurance dispute settlement committees to the Court of Appeal within 30 days and bars insurers from challenging…

Proceedings against a party who had already died are cured by joining the heirs at the same level

In principle proceedings can be brought only against living persons, and a claim or appeal against someone who died before it was filed is non-existent. But the rule exists to protect the right of defence, and nullity is not declared where the purpose of a…

Limitation for damages arising from a crime is suspended while criminal proceedings remain possible or pending

Under Article 298 of the Civil Transactions Law a claim for damages for a harmful act is barred three years after the victim actually learned of the harm and of the person responsible, and in any case after fifteen years. Where the act is also a crime, the…

An appeal court that finds the claim was not properly served must still decide the merits itself

Under the 2022 Civil Procedure Code a claim is brought when the case management office registers the statement of claim and the fee is paid (Articles 44 and 47); service on the defendant is a separate, later step. A defect in service therefore does not…

When the addressee's home is closed, a process server may serve by posting directly on the court website

Under Article 9(1)(b) of the Civil Procedure Code, if the process server does not find the addressee at his domicile or residence, he serves any spouse, relative, in-law or employee living with him; if they refuse, nobody who may lawfully receive it is…

Workers with labour claims of up to AED 100,000 pay no court fees or cassation deposit at any stage

Reading Articles 181(2) and 188 of the Civil Procedure Code with Article 9(1) of Dubai Law No. 21 of 2015 on Judicial Fees in the Dubai Courts, claims, appeals, cassation appeals and petitions for reconsideration brought by workers, or those entitled…

One address inquiry before service by publication can suffice for every stage of the same litigation

Under Article 9(3) of the Civil Procedure Code, where a person cannot be served by the ordinary methods, the case management office or competent judge has an inquiry made with at least one relevant authority, and the person is then served by posting on the…

Actions to record the state of facts belong to the urgent-matters judge unless joined to a pending merits case

An action to record the state of facts (دعوى إثبات الحالة) is a purely precautionary procedural action, brought at the claimant's expense, to preserve proof of facts likely to be disputed; it does not decide the right itself. Under Article 108 of the…

Closure of a DIAC arbitration file for unpaid costs does not extinguish the arbitration clause

The General Assembly unanimously abandoned the earlier view that closure of a Dubai International Arbitration Centre case for unpaid costs makes the arbitration clause lapse. Under Federal Law No. 6 of 2018 on Arbitration, proceedings end with an award…

A claim fee paid late but before the first hearing makes the claim effective from the date of payment

Under Articles 44, 45 and 47 of the Civil Procedure Code a claim is registered and effective from the filing of the statement of claim only if the fee is paid within three working days of the payment notice; otherwise the supervising judge may declare the…

A grievance against a payment order must be heard by a judge other than the one who issued it

Under Article 147(1) of the Civil Procedure Code, a party may file a grievance against a payment order whose value is within the final jurisdiction of the first-instance court before 'the competent payment-order judge'. The judge who issued the order has…

When a claim or memorandum is filed electronically, only its electronic text is before the court

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…

Joining the driver and vehicle owner does not oust the insurance committee's jurisdiction over the claim against the insurer

Under Article 4 of Insurance Authority Board Chairman's Decision No. 33 of 2019, insurance dispute committees hear complaints by insured persons, beneficiaries or injured parties against the insurer only. A claimant may sue the insurer together with the…

A request to sell the whole co-owned property must be made in the claim, not to the enforcement judge

Article 1166(2) of the Civil Transactions Law, as amended, allows a co-owner who cannot sell his share to ask for the whole property to be sold. Such requests must be made in a substantive action, where they are granted, refused or declared inadmissible.…

A debtor's only home cannot be sold in execution on the ground that it exceeds his housing needs

Under Article 106(2) of the Civil Procedure Regulation (Cabinet Resolution No. 57 of 2018), the house used as a residence by the debtor and the dependants living with him may not be attached, unless it is mortgaged and the debt arises from its price. The…

The payment-order procedure is mandatory for qualifying debts, but an ordinary claim is admissible once a serious dispute arises

Under Article 62 of the Civil Procedure Regulation (Cabinet Resolution No. 57 of 2018, as amended by Cabinet Resolution No. 33 of 2020), a creditor must use the payment-order procedure, not an ordinary action, where the debt is proved in writing by a…

Where no rate is agreed, Dubai courts award legal and delay interest at 5 per cent a year

Where the parties have not agreed on an interest rate, interest on an adjudged debt, whether 'legal' interest or delay (late-payment) interest, is calculated at 5 per cent a year until full payment. The Dubai courts had applied 9 per cent a year as a…

Appeal judgments on enforcing foreign judgments can go to cassation, and default judgments need proof of proper service

Article 173(3) of the former Civil Procedure Law made appeal judgments 'in execution proceedings' final, but that covers only disputes about pure enforcement steps. A ruling on whether a foreign judgment qualifies for enforcement under Article 85 of the…

A payment order requires a valid prior demand on each debtor, and one co-debtor's personal defect does not free the others

Under Article 63(1) of the Civil Procedure Regulation (Cabinet Resolution No. 57 of 2018), a creditor must first serve on the debtor a demand to pay within at least five days before applying for a payment order. The demand is an essential step: if its…

A buyer under an unregistered contract may claim attached property if he shows evidence of ownership or possession

Although ownership of real property passes, between the parties and against others, only on registration (Article 1277 of the Civil Transactions Law), Article 166(1) of the Civil Procedure Regulation (Cabinet Resolution No. 57 of 2018) allows a third party…

A company's manager can be detained or banned from travel if his abnormal conduct frustrates execution

Under Article 322 of the Civil Procedure Law, where the judgment debtor is a private legal person the execution judge may order the detention of, or a travel ban against, its legal representative or another person, even without an execution title against…

When ADGM Courts, rather than Abu Dhabi courts, hear contract, letter-of-guarantee and branch disputes

Under Article 13(7) of the ADGM Founding Law, ADGM Courts have exclusive jurisdiction over civil and commercial claims to which ADGM or its authorities or establishments are party, and over claims arising from a contract concluded, completed or performed…

A cassation appeal is admissible if fees and deposit are paid within the appeal period, even after three working days

Articles 179 and 181 of the Civil Procedure Law require the appellant in cassation to pay the court fee in full and lodge the security deposit within three working days of notice of the fee assessment. A late payment does not make the appeal inadmissible…

No cassation appeal lies against appellate rulings on orders enforcing foreign judgments and foreign arbitral awards

Under Articles 222 and 223 of the Civil Procedure Law, enforcement of foreign judgments, orders and foreign arbitral awards is sought by petition to the execution judge, whose order may be appealed directly to the Court of Appeal. The order remains an…

An appeal court sitting in chambers must hold a hearing before reversing or varying the judgment under appeal

Under Articles 45(6) and 167(1) to (3) of the Civil Procedure Law, and Article 7 of the Judicial Department resolution on the small claims court, the Court of Appeal normally decides appeals in chambers and may, without a hearing, declare an appeal…

A public prosecution decision not to prosecute does not bind the civil courts

Only judgments of the criminal courts have binding effect on civil courts, and only as to what they necessarily decided about the occurrence of the act forming the common basis of the two actions, its legal characterisation and its attribution to the…

A second party's cassation appeal against the same judgment must be heard if it raises different grounds

Where several parties appeal the same judgment in cassation and the Court decides one appeal without joining the others, a later appeal brought in time by a different party with a separate interest, on grounds not addressed in the first decision, must be…

Losing a lawsuit or complaint does not make the claimant liable for abuse of the right to litigate

A person who uses a right lawfully is not liable for resulting harm to others (Articles 104 to 106 of the Civil Transactions Law). Abuse exists only in the cases listed exhaustively in Article 106, all marked by an intent to harm or a reckless disregard of…

The Abu Dhabi real estate register is conclusive proof of ownership and can be challenged only for fraud or forgery

Under Articles 2, 3, 4 and 6 of Abu Dhabi Law No. 3 of 2005 and its implementing regulation, the real estate register kept by the municipal registration department is binding on everyone and its entries may be challenged only for fraud or forgery. Every…

A company that arbitrates without objecting cannot later deny its CEO's authority to agree to arbitration

An arbitration agreement is valid only if made by a person with capacity to dispose of the right in dispute, and an agent may include an arbitration clause only with special authority. But a principal may ratify an act exceeding the agent's authority,…

A concrete supplier was not liable for a building collapse that experts attributed to design and site supervision failures

Under Articles 878 and 880 of the Civil Transactions Law, the contractor and supervising engineer guarantee, as an obligation of result, against total or partial collapse and defects threatening a building's safety for ten years from handover. A supply…

A cheque returned because the account is frozen or suspended is not an execution title; a closed account is

To be enforced directly, a cheque must be sufficient in itself as an execution title and the right it embodies must be certain, liquidated, due, not seriously disputed and not conditional. Under Article 667 of the Commercial Transactions Law, read with the…

A worker injured through the employer's fault may sue in the civil court in tort, beyond the labour-law compensation

Compensation for work injuries under Article 37 of the Labour Relations Law and Cabinet Resolution No. 33 of 2022 is a statutory, no-fault entitlement based on risk, calculated by the law's tables and heard by the labour court. A claim alleging the…

After Reem Island joined ADGM, a claim by a Reem Island company belongs to the ADGM Courts

New laws do not apply retroactively, but rules of public order take immediate effect on existing situations, and rules on jurisdiction ratione materiae are mandatory and of public order, so they apply at once to disputes not yet finally decided, even if…

Bankruptcy is not a debt collection tool: a judgment creditor's petition failed without proof of cessation of payments

A creditor owed at least AED 100,000 may petition to open bankruptcy proceedings after a written demand and thirty working days without payment, but the petition must include the documents in Article 74, including the name of a proposed trustee, and the…

A claim filed against a deceased person can be cured by joining the heirs; rescinded partnership refunds net of sums received

A claim or appeal brought against a person who had already died is not void beyond repair: it may be corrected by joining the heirs at the same level of court, by a memorandum or new statement filed with the case management office within the time limit,…

Contracting parties cannot sue each other in tort for breach, and departing from expert findings needs sound reasons

Where the injured party and the party responsible are linked by a prior contract, the claim for compensation cannot be based on tort, because that would override the contract's terms on liability and undermine its binding force, unless the harm results…

Annulment of an arbitral award cannot be used to challenge the tribunal's ruling on limitation, which is not public order

An award can be set aside only on the grounds exhaustively listed in Article 53 of the Arbitration Law, which the claimant must prove, or of the court's own motion where the subject is not arbitrable or the award breaches public order. The annulment court…

A dismissal without the written investigation required by Article 44 leaves the employer liable for notice pay

An employer may dismiss a worker without notice under Article 44 of the Labour Relations Law only after a written investigation and, for repeated breach of duties, two warnings; without them the worker is owed notice pay, even where an outside body has…

A principal that sells into an exclusive agent's territory through its own affiliate owes the agent commission

A registered commercial agency is concluded for the parties' common interest, so the principal cannot end or refuse to renew it alone without an acceptable reason, although the parties may agree an express termination clause, which leaves the court only to…

Several wrongdoers who cause one harm may be held jointly liable, and a pending criminal case suspends the civil claim's lapse period

A final criminal judgment binds the civil courts on the facts it necessarily decided: whether the act occurred, its legal description and who committed it. Where several persons are responsible for a harmful act, the court may order them to pay…

Bundled claims arising from separate causes are valued one by one for the AED 500,000 cassation threshold

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…

A bounced cheque is an execution title only when returned for no or insufficient funds (later overruled federally)

Article 667(1) of the Commercial Transactions Law makes a cheque that the bank has marked as unpaid for lack or insufficiency of funds an execution title that the holder may enforce directly. Because this departs from the rule that a returned cheque needs…

Property investment contracts are commercial and belong to the Commercial Court, not the rental disputes committee

A lease governed by Abu Dhabi Law No. 20 of 2006 presupposes that the tenant uses the premises himself. An investment contract, under which an investor exploits property by way of business, re-letting its units for profit, erecting buildings at his own…

An unregistered Abu Dhabi lease bars a rent claim even after a court has referred the case to the committee

Under Article 6 of Judicial Department Resolution No. 25 of 2018, no rent claim is registered unless the lease is attached and registered with the municipality. This is a mandatory public-order rule, so the rental disputes committee at either level must of…

A respondent's counter-appeal must be filed by the first case-management hearing, even within thirty days

Under Article 164 of the former Civil Procedure Law (as amended in 2018), a respondent to an appeal may lodge its own appeal, by ordinary procedure or by a memorandum with grounds, only up to the first hearing for exchange of memoranda before the case…

An arbitration clause in a subcontract cannot block a guarantee claim involving the issuing bank, which is not party to it

Under Article 8 of the Arbitration Law a court must declare a claim inadmissible if the defendant invokes an arbitration agreement before pleading on the merits, unless the agreement is void or incapable of performance. But a contract binds only its…

UAE courts may hear claims against a foreign resident; only real actions over property abroad are excluded

Under Article 20 of the Civil Procedure Law, UAE courts have jurisdiction over claims against UAE nationals and against foreigners domiciled or resident in the UAE, except real actions concerning property abroad; that is the only exception. In commercial…

Opening bankruptcy proceedings stays creditors' lawsuits and enforcement against the debtor, including against jointly liable co-debtors

A basic rule of bankruptcy, which is of public order, is that creditors may not take individual action against the debtor. Under Article 162(1) of the Bankruptcy Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 9 of 2016, as amended in 2020), the court's decision opening…

A New York ICC award is enforced in Abu Dhabi without review of its merits under the New York Convention

Foreign arbitral awards are enforced by petition to the execution judge under Articles 85 and 86 of the Implementing Regulation of the Civil Procedure Law, after checking that UAE courts lack exclusive jurisdiction, the foreign forum had jurisdiction, the…

Abu Dhabi courts lack jurisdiction over a claim to which an ADGM-registered company is a party

Jurisdiction ratione materiae is a matter of public order that the court must raise of its own motion. The ADGM Courts are a judicial authority separate from the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, and under Article 13(7)(a) of Abu Dhabi Law No. 4 of 2013, as…

The payment-order route applies only when the whole claim is a documented debt; traders' claims were barred after ten years

Claims are ordinarily brought by a statement of claim filed with the court. The payment-order procedure is an exception, available only where everything claimed is a debt established by a document signed by the debtor or a specified movable; it cannot be…

A written clause referring disputes to the DIFC Courts excludes the Abu Dhabi courts

Under Article 5(2) of Dubai Law No. 12 of 2004, as amended by Law No. 16 of 2011, the DIFC Court of First Instance may hear any civil or commercial claim that the parties agree in writing, before or after the dispute, to bring before it, provided the…

An appeal counts as filed on the date it is registered after payment of the fee, not when the statement is lodged

Registration of a claim or appeal has three stages: filing the statement, paying the fee, and entry in the register; payment of the fee is a condition of registration. A first-instance claim takes effect from the filing date even if the fee is paid later,…

An assignment of a debt cannot be enforced against the debtor who did not consent to it

The bar on cassation appeals against appellate rulings 'in execution procedures' (Article 173(3) of the former Civil Procedure Law) covers only rulings on the measures the execution judge takes to enforce a title. Rulings on a prior legal question on which…

A curator suing for a ward needs prior court permission unless urgent; corporate appellants must prove counsel's authority

Under Articles 178 and 225 of the Personal Status Law, a guardian or curator may not sue on behalf of a minor or a person under interdiction without prior permission of the personal status court; without it the proceedings are void as a matter of public…

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

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…

A debtor who claims insolvency must prove it; the court must rule on the claim as framed and as characterised on cassation

Insolvency (الإعسار) exists where a debtor's debts equal or exceed his assets; once established, the court may place him under interdiction under Articles 401 and 402 of the Civil Transactions Law, and the debtor may himself seek a declaration. Whoever…

When the statement of claim was never validly served, the appeal court must send the case back to the first-instance court

Where the Court of Appeal annuls a first-instance judgment because the statement of claim was not validly served on the defendant, so that proceedings were never properly constituted, it may not simply declare the nullity and stop, nor decide the merits…

A final civil award made in criminal proceedings survives the accused's later acquittal on the criminal charge

A judgment has res judicata effect only if it is final (قطعي) and issued by a court with jurisdiction, and only on a question that is fundamental, unchanged, argued between the parties and expressly decided; there is no implied res judicata. A civil award…

Al Ain appellants get the ten-day distance period for cassation appeals; non-compete limited by place

The 60-day period for a cassation appeal (Article 176 of the former Civil Procedure Law) is extended by the ten-day distance period under Article 12 for an appellant whose domicile is outside the seat of the Abu Dhabi Court of Appeal, such as Al Ain, even…

UAE courts cannot annul a foreign-seated arbitral award unless the parties chose the UAE Arbitration Law

An international commercial arbitration held abroad is not subject to the UAE Arbitration Law unless the parties agreed to apply it (Article 2 of Federal Law No. 6 of 2018). The law of the seat governs the award, including whether it can be set aside.…

Covid-era pay cuts accepted by the employee bind him, and RAK courts must follow RAK cassation precedent on interest

Wage includes only amounts that are fixed and regular; payments due only when their cause arises are not wage unless the law says otherwise. An employment contract is consensual, so the parties may agree to reduce pay, and the employee's acceptance may be…

An arbitration clause survives the termination of the main contract, and annulment is no appeal on the merits

An arbitration agreement is independent of the other terms of the contract, so the contract's nullity, rescission or termination does not affect it (Article 6 of the Federal Arbitration Law), whether it is a clause in the original contract or a later…

A court must put a requested decisive oath unless it is abusive, even against written evidence

The Public Prosecutor may appeal in cassation, within a year, against final judgments that breach the law where the parties cannot or did not appeal (Article 174 of the Civil Procedure Law), to resolve conflicting rulings on the same point of law. The…

A bankruptcy judgment given on appeal without the Public Prosecution's intervention is void

A bankruptcy petition is a procedural action to establish a legal status, the bankruptcy of a trader-debtor. The Public Prosecution must intervene in bankruptcy proceedings, and a judgment given without its intervention is void as a matter of public order,…

Annulling an award is limited to the statutory grounds; omissions such as arbitrators' nationality do not void it

An annulment action is not an appeal and cannot reopen the merits; the grounds in Article 53 of the Arbitration Law are exhaustive. Evidence, experts and whether to stay the arbitration pending another case are for the tribunal. What an award must state…

Service by phone or other modern means is valid if identity and ownership of the channel are verified

A claim may be served by modern technological means, or by any method the parties agree, provided the identity of the recipient is confirmed, the channel belongs to the person served and any call is transcribed in a record placed on the file. Special rules…

An LLC manager may agree to arbitration for the company, and silence during the arbitration waives objections

A party that continues with an arbitration knowing of a breach of the arbitration agreement or of a non-mandatory rule, without objecting in time, waives its objection. Choosing an arbitral institution brings in its procedural rules, and the tribunal rules…

Limitation must be pleaded and correctly characterised; a void earlier claim does not fix the date interest runs

The plea that a claim is barred by lapse of time is not a matter of public order; it must be raised before the trial court, and its period depends on the correct characterisation of the claim. The five-year bar applies only to periodic, renewable rights,…

An expert must invite the parties to his first meeting, and grounds of appeal must be specific

A court-appointed expert must notify the parties of the first meeting of his assignment in the manner and time the Evidence Law requires; failing to do so makes his work void. Procedures are presumed to have been followed, and whether the expert gave…

An agreed delay penalty is payable without proof of loss unless the debtor proves none occurred or it is excessive

A penalty clause fixes in advance the loss the parties expect from a breach, so the creditor need not prove loss; the debtor must prove that no loss occurred or that the agreed amount is excessive, and the judge may then adjust it (Article 390 of the Civil…

Only the principal can rely on an agent's lack of authority to sign an arbitration agreement

A claim is inadmissible where the parties have agreed to arbitrate and the defendant raises the arbitration clause at the first hearing; interpreting the clause is for the trial court. The relationship between a party and its agents or representatives…

A DIFC Courts clause does not oust RAK courts over a RAK free-zone company not registered in the DIFC

The DIFC Courts' jurisdiction depends on the conditions in the DIFC judicial authority law. A company that is not registered in the DIFC is not one of its bodies or establishments; if its management is in Ras Al Khaimah and it belongs to the RAK Free Zone,…

Service on a sole proprietorship must reach its owner; affixing notices is lawful only in narrow cases

Service on legal persons follows the Civil Procedure Law, and the Companies Law did not exempt one-person establishments from it. A sole proprietorship has no personality separate from its owner, so the claim must be served on the owner; leaving it with an…

Anyone with a direct interest may ask the court to appoint a liquidator, but the interest must be proved

Any person with an interest, even one who is not a partner, may apply to the court to appoint a liquidator for a company in liquidation when the partners cannot do so. The applicant's interest must be established, legitimate, positive and direct; a claim…

UAE courts hear a free-zone employee's claim against a foreign employer where the contract was performed in RAK

UAE courts have jurisdiction over a claim against a foreign defendant with no domicile or residence in the UAE where the dispute concerns an obligation performed in the UAE, and any agreement to the contrary is void. An employment contract performed at the…

Agreeing to arbitrate needs special authority, but a company that relies on the contract ratifies the clause

Only someone with capacity to dispose of the disputed right may agree to arbitration; a company must act through a person with power to dispose of its assets. A general power of attorney is not enough, because an arbitration agreement is an act of disposal…

The RAK Free Zone arbitration scheme does not take away the courts' jurisdiction over free-zone disputes

Arbitration in UAE civil and commercial matters rests on the parties' free agreement, which defines its scope and removes the dispute from the courts. The Ras Al Khaimah decree authorising the Free Zone chairman to set up an arbitration system for…