September 22, 2025 court of first instance - Orders
Claim No. CFI 058/2024
THE DUBAI INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL CENTRE COURTS
IN THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
BETWEEN
ATUL DHAWAN ASHOK AMIR CHAND DHAWAN
Claimant
and
RAMZI WAHIB EL JAOUHARI
Defendant
ORDER WITH REASONS OF H.E. JUSTICE ROGER STEWART KC
UPON the Part 7 Claim Form filed on 21 August 2024 (the “Claim”)
AND UPON the Case Management Conference held before H.E. Roger Stewart K.C with the Claimant and the Defendant in attendance (the “CMC’’)
AND UPON the Order of H.E. Justice Roger Stewart KC dated 7 May 2025, requiring the Claimant to file Amended Particulars of Claim specifying the legal basis upon which the sums claimed in the Statement of Costs are advanced and providing full particulars of any alleged fraud or cheating as well as any loss of business claimed by no later than 4pm on Wednesday 21 May 2025 (the “7 May Order”)
AND UPON the Claimant filing Amended Particulars of Claim on 21 May 2025
AND UPON the Defendant filing a “Reply to Defence” on 22 July 2025
AND UPON reviewing Parts 4, 17, 26 and 53 of the Rules of the DIFC Courts (“RDC”)
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT
1. The parties are to attend before the Court on a day to be fixed with a time estimate of 2 hours to consider:
(a) Whether all or part of the Amended Particulars of Claim should be struck out pursuant to RDC 4.16 on the basis that they disclose no reasonable grounds for bringing or defending the claim and/or that it constitutes an abuse of the Court’s process or is otherwise likely to obstruct the just disposal of the proceedings and/or there has been a failure to comply with a Rule, Practice Direction or Court Order; and
(b) Whether, insofar as the Amended Particulars of Claim are not struck out as a whole, the action should be transferred to the SCT.
Issued by:
Delvin Sumo
Assistant Registrar
Date of issue: 22 September 2025
At:12pm
SCHEDULE OF REASONS
1. This Claim is brought by an employer against a contractor where the original contract sum was AED 150,000 with a contract period of 30 days and where 75% of the sum is said to have been paid.
2. The original Particulars of Claim is diffuse and does not comply with RDC 17.36 in that it is not set out in separate consecutively numbered paragraphs. Further:
(a) Although it refers to fraud and cheating by the Defendant it does not contain full and specific details of the same pursuant to RDC 17.43; and
(b) It contains a substantial number of wholly or largely unparticularized claims including in particular AED 100,000 for substandard and wrong materials, AED 500,000 for double charging money by threatening for delay on non-payment, AED 780,000 for “making us pay to his vendors to complete job early and still not delivering”, AED 1,000,000 for fraud and cheating and AED 2,000,000 for loss of business.
(c) It is only these large claims that mean that the claim is above the SCT limit.
3. These defects were apparent to the Court at the CMC which led to:
(a) A discussion of the necessity of providing proper particulars of the matters or withdrawing claims; and
(b) The issuance of the 7 May Order.
4. It does not appear to the Court that the Amended Particulars of Claim comply with the Court’s 7 May Order. In particular, the basis of the claims made is still substantially unclear and there are no proper particulars of fraud, cheating or the substantial loss of business claim.
5. Although the Defendant has not applied to strike out the Amended Particulars, it does complain as to their inadequacy.
6. The Court does not, at present, consider that the Claim can proceed to trial on the basis of the Amended Particulars of Claim. Further at least many of the larger claims appear inherently unlikely given the original contract value and duration.
7. The Cout therefore considers that a hearing should be scheduled in order to consider whether to strike out some or all of the Particulars of Claim and/or as to whether any remaining part should be transferred to the SCT.
8. If, on considering this Order, the Claimant wishes to put forward draft amendments so that the defects in the Particulars of Claim are cured, it should do so without delay.
