Background

A First Respondent filed a claim before the Abu Dhabi Court of First Instance No. (103/2000) against four original Defendants and the Appellant who was joined to the suit requesting the court require the fourth Defendant in his own capacity to jointly with the second and third Defendants to pay compensation of 140,000 AED, for the construction and installation of a camera system in a project owned by the Four Original Defendants. The court, however, barred the claim on the basis of statutory limitation.

The First Respondent proceeded to appeal the decision to the Abu Dhabi Court of Appeal under appeal number 632/2003: which approved the appeal.

The main defence raised by the Appellant in the first instance proceedings was the invocation of a statutory timeframe: stating that the debt of the First Respondent was a commercial debt, which arose in 1996, and had expired in 1998 - and since the claim was filed in 2003, it should fail.

Proceedings

Abu Dhabi Court of First Instance - Decision No 103 of 2000