Total value of claims up 72% to $2.7mln

The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts saw an influx of businesses filing disputes in 2020, with the total number of cases rising by 41 percent year-on-year to 882.

Cases lodged before the main Court of First Instance (CFI) last year ranged from breach of contract, insolvency, arbitration agreements to employment and public international law, with claimants coming from various sectors, including banking, finance, construction and real estate.

The total value of claims across all divisions went up by 72 percent from 2019, with 9.95 billion dirhams ($2.7 million) in claims value recorded. This puts an average case value last year at 486.3 million dirhams.

For disputes related to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the total value of claims reached 55 million dirhams in 2020.

The Small Claims Tribunal (SCT) saw 466 cases filed which were mainly related to breach of contract, representing 51 percent of all cases, followed by employment (25 percent), property and tenancy (16 percent) and banking and finance (8 percent).

In a statement, the DIFC Courts said the rise in the number of cases filed last year indicates strong business confidence in the judiciary system.

“Our long-established digital infrastructure not only preserved all services to court users in 2020, but also propelled the DIFC Courts to enhance operational efficiency in managing the substantial increase in claims, assisting businesses to resolve their disputes,” said Zaki Azmi, chief justice at DIFC Courts.

zawya