Recently, the attention of the litigants was drawn towards the amendment of the aged Civil Procedural Laws of the UAE, i.e. Federal Law No.11 of 1992. The amendment was introducing in the form of the cabinet resolution no. 33 of 2020, which has not just made amendment to the above mentioned federal law, but is also responsible for adjusting with the cabinet resolution no. 57 of 2018. Owing to these amendments, the civil lawyers of Dubai have confronted cogent modifications that are principally responsible for changing the method of carrying out a civil proceeding in the UAE.
1. Summon Serving
The Amendment Law has put a prohibition upon the litigants as well as on their attorneys which results in the jeopardizing of their ability to serve the summons to the opposite party through the modern ways of technology. This means that the summons can no more be served through e-mails, calls or messages by the parties or their attorneys.
An alternative is purposed through the amendments for serving the summons, that is the private process server. It will make sure that the contemporary sources of technology are being used for the serving of the summons. In addition to this, it will also ensure that the contact details of the party are also recorded with accuracy. The implementation of this law will however take time as the process server is still under development.
Under this amendment, the only servers of the summon can be the court or the operators of this process server, who can serve summons to the party through smart Applications such as Whatsapp or e-mail in the form of text, audio or video message.
Another provision of the amended law provides that the summon will now be served at the head office or any branch office, irrespective of which office is concerned in the case. Moreover, the summon can now be fixed to the premises of the party even in the absence of the order from the court.
2. Case Management Office (CMO)
An additional power is given to the supervisory judges who are responsible for the management of the CMO offices which involves the power to initiate the settlement between the parties and apply for the sanction of the parties.
In addition to this, CMO is now vested with the power to hear objections related to whether the disputes shall be continued or dismissed for reasons and cases relating to the jurisdictional issues.
3. Summary Courts and their Proceedings
According to the resolution, the summary courts can now hear cases with the subject matter with value up to AED 500,000 and such law suits which can be dismissed in one hearing with respect to the authenticity of the signatures. Not only this, the summary courts are now open for cases up to AED 10 Million also with the additional condition that the cases with value of less than AED50,000 of subject matter, then in that case, the order of the court will be of final nature and will not involve the option of appeal.
4. Modification of the Payment Order Process
The amendment has emanate with the wide purview of Payment Orders through the way of allowance of damages, outstanding debts and interest to the creditors. Moreover, the jurisdictional restriction has been removed of filing the case where the debtor resides, now one can even file the case where the contract was concluded.
Another change in the process of the Payment Order is that the payment order of less than AED50,000 is not appealable in the court of appeals. Rather, the ones above this amount can appeal in the court of appeals. The court of appeals cannot send the case back to the court with original jurisdiction and will have to decide the case based on the merits of the facts of the case.
5. Prohibition on the Traveling by the Court
A clarification is given by the provisions of the resolution stating the conditions upon which the court can order the parties for the travel ban. These situations are, firstly, the case shall involve an unconditional debt with a specified amount not exceeding AED 10,000, secondly, if the court has a strong opinion that the debtor will flee from the country, thirdly, the outstanding debts shall be made evident through the documents supporting such claim and lastly, a guaranty needs to be submitted to the court by the claimant for the prevention of cases where the claimant could maliciously file an application for the false claim.
6. Procedure of Fast Track Litigation
As soon as the matter is referred to the fast track court by the CMO, the resolution enumerates that a final judgment shall be provided by the court within 100 days of the reference. The grounds for the adjournment of such proceedings will involve only reasons such as death or loss of capacity or if any such criminal case is filed which is characterized by the same merits as that of the present case.
7. Enforcement Judges with additional power
Earlier the enforcement judges could provide permission for the installation of plan for a time period of only 1 year. But now, this time period has increased from 1 year to 3 years.
8. Power of Attorney
The New law provides for a requisite for the ones who are employed in a company and are not enrolled as an advocate but represent the company in any matter, such people shall have a law degree along with at least 1 year of time period of employment with such company. Such power of attorney shall also get attest the same representation through the Notary Public.
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