How to file a lawsuit in the UAE

Court reporter Haneen Dajani takes you through the process of launching a lawsuit.

If a second party causes you harm, you have the right to file a lawsuit asking for financial compensation. The court decides how much the wrongdoer should pay based on the level of harm caused.
The claimant is required to pay a fee of 2 per cent of the amount they are seeking in compensation, but the fee is capped at Dh20,000. So even if you are seeking Dh10 million, the fee will be no more than Dh20,000.
"People usually ask for much higher compensation than they expect to be granted, because the court usually orders less than the amount they ask for," said the lawyer Khalid Mohamed Al Hayyas.
Some claims are unreasonable. "Someone could ask for Dh1 million because he was slapped, this doesn't make sense . the court decides the amount based on the level of harm caused," Mr Al Hayyas said.
Another legal source recalled a case in which an Egyptian labourer was left paralysed when another worker dropped an iron bar on his head at a construction site. The court awarded the labourer Dh3 million in compensation.
If the labourer is insured by his company, such as in the case above, the bill for the compensation is divided among his company, the insurance company and the direct source of the harm - the co-worker in the above case.
"Insurance companies pay off their amounts immediately because the court freezes their assets until they do," explained the source, "and once they get their assets back they sue the other parties to pay them back their money."
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