Construction case won on behalf of a well-known large contractor against renowned Dubai based developer.

BACKGROUND

At Hamdan Al Shamsi Lawyers and Legal Consultants, we specialize and have a lot of experience in
Construction and Real Estate cases.

One interesting breakthrough in the construction industry for our office was in early 2020, when we were
able to obtain a large judgement quickly, namely less than a month, for payment certificates that have not
been paid by a Dubai based large developer to our client, another large well-known contractor. The
procedure has brought huge benefits to our client who needed the money as soon as possible for works
that he has already completed. The claimed amount was more than 21 million Dirhams.

We would like to make it clear though, that this process will be more complicated for parties who have
agreed to arbitration, however many other expedient processes through arbitration can achieve the
desired results but perhaps not within a month.

SOLUTION

In the United Arab Emirates, the Construction field covers a wide range of legal matters, which
assembles that the work in the Construction field incur the lawyers to work long hours to ensure justice,
sovereignty of law, and assistance to those who are in desperate need.

In our case, we had some important documents in hand and in particularly one of the important
documents were the Payment Certificates issued by the Property Developer. The company had to act
promptly to claim its dues, as the Developer was an offshore company not registered and neither present
in the UAE, giving reasons and doubt for risks of recovery.

As the amendment was made to the Civil Procedures Law regarding the activation of the articles on
Performance Orders, it was preferable to do a prompt search for the means to guarantee the dues of the
client.

Further to reviewing the documents, it was indicated that the Payment Certificates issued by the
Developer are Commercial Papers which applies to article no. (62) with the amendments related to the
Civil Procedures Law no. 57/2018 that is related to the issuance of urgent orders from the Competent
Judge.

Further to claiming the client’s dues, a Legal Notice was sent to the Developer mandating the latter to
fulfil the obligation of the Payment certificates within five (5) days as per the Law, however, the opponent
refused, which led the Firm to apply to the Competent Judge to issue Performance Orders by ordering the
Developer to pay the client an amount more than AED 21,000,000 within twenty (20) days from the date
of receiving the papers until the issuance of the Judge’s decision.

Since that decision was issued from the Judge, Hamdan AlShamsi Lawyers and Legal Consultants were
one of the pioneers in using Payment Certificates as a Commercial Paper to claim the constructer’s
outstanding from the Developer through the Performance Orders.

LAWYER

Alaa Galal who has handled the above case successfully has been with the firm for over 5 years. He is a
a brilliant legal practitioner with a career spanning over 30 years and is an experienced litigation lawyer who
represents clients and provides legal advice in various legal matters that range from civil and family to
commercial and criminal. Alaa has extensive experience in the Egyptian and the UAE legal systems and
currently, represents top tier HAS clients in a wide spectrum of complex commercial disputes before UAE
courts.

Hamdan Al Shamsi Lawyers and Legal Consultants are looking forward to assisting any company with
our extensive knowledge and expertise in Construction and Real estate.