These sectors are turning to DIFC Courts to resolve disputes

More cases than ever before are being heard in front of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts as the common law body is increasingly entrenching itself as the region’s pre-eminent forum for English language dispute resolution.

Releasing its figures for the first six months of 2024, DIFC Courts’ latest data points to a continued growth in case numbers with it having seen an increase of 10 per cent in the total number of cases filed with the Court of First Instance (CFI). Meanwhile, the total value of cases filed with the Small Claims Tribunal has increased by 37 per cent.

DIFC Courts goes on to say that the value of cases across all its divisions in the first half of 2024 was Dhs1.05bn, with a total number of 480 cases filed. In the main Court of First Instance (CFI), 57 cases were filed, with the total value of Dhs1.02bn and an average case value of Dhs39.3m.

“Following a record-year for the DIFC Courts in 2023, we have continued to record strong uptake of core and ancillary services of the DIFC Courts for the first six months of 2024,” said Justice Omar Al Mheiri, Director of DIFC Courts.

“We have also committed to further research and development of new innovative, efficient and cost-effective mechanisms in 2024 to assist our court users, whilst also maintaining core judicial excellence through our case management and skilled bench of judges,” Al Mheiri added.

In its statement, DIFC Courts further added that claims brought before the CFI involved companies and business across a wide range of sectors, including banking & finance, real estate, construction, manufacturing, retail, intellectual property, and pharmaceutical. The bulk of disputes related to breach of contract, employment, and outstanding payments.

The statement went on to say that 265 claims were filed with the region’s first Small Claims Tribunal (SCT) at an overall claim value totalling Dhs27.2 million. The average claim value of cases filed at the SCT was Dhs109,000.

“Claims were driven primarily by disputes involving breach of contract, employment, and property and tenancy,” DIFC Courts added in its press statement.

Digitisation, other services

Amid the higher demand for its services, DIFC Courts also issued 100 per cent of its orders and judgments digitally, with over 913 orders in the first six months of 2024, and a further 85 judgments issued for the same period.

Added to this, an estimated 96 per cent of hearings in the CFI were conducted remotely. Meanwhile, the SCT recorded 100 per cent of its hearings remotely, with the Court of Appeal recording 75 per cent remote hearings in the first six months of 2024.

In terms of other services, DIFC Courts’ wills service also notched up growth in the first six months of this year. The service was established to enable non-Muslims, who are investing and living in the UAE, to pass on their assets and appoint guardians for their children in line with their wishes through a will registration service.

The service recorded 810 newly registered wills from January to June 2024, marking a 6 per cent increase in the number of registrations compared with the first six months of 2023. Since its inception in 2015, the wills service has registered over 11,000 wills.

DIFC Courts also recorded more than a 20 per cent increase in the number of registered digital vaults in the first half of 2024. Dubbed ‘tejouri’, the service provides a unique platform that functions simultaneously as a cloud vault and an online safe for data.