Woman pays ex-husband Dhs10,000 for insulting e-mail in Abu Dhabi

Aya El Deeb, Staff Reporter

The Abu Dhabi Court of Appeal upheld the ruling of the Court of First Instance obligating a woman to pay to her ex-husband Dhs10,000 in compensation for the damages incurred by him after she insulted him in an e-mail.

The details date back to an earlier time when the complainant filed a lawsuit in which he demanded that his ex-wife be obligated to pay him Dhs100,000 in material and moral compensation, besides the expenses and fees of the lawsuit.

The complainant said that the appellee was his wife and they had two sons. she allegedly travelled with one of them and returned after a year and a half, after which she sent him insults by e-mail.

The Abu Dhabi Court for Family, Civil and Administrative Cases ordered the appellee to pay Dhs10,000 to the complainant, besides the fees and expenses, so the two parties appealed the ruling.

In the appeal, the complainant affirmed that the compensation amount was negligible and does not suit the damages he incurred because the insult harmed his reputation, his religion and his social and work environment.

In her appeal, the appellee affirmed that what her ex-husband presented was a preliminary verdict and that she denied the insulting incident.

She also indicated that the style in which the message was written proved that it was fake, stressing that she was ready to swear an oath of denial.

She demanded the annulment of the judgment, the dismissal of the case for lack of validity and evidence. She also requested the reduction of the compensation  amount on the grounds that she was jobless.

The court affirmed that the insult message contained contempt for the appellant, indicating that the insult harmed him. The court also explained that the amount of compensation was appropriate, and then rejected the two appeals and upheld the ruling of the Court of First Instance.