Court asks property developer to pay consulting firm Dhs15m in Dubai

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

Dubai Criminal Court obligated a property developer to pay Dhs15 million to an engineering consulting office, and the Appellate Court upheld the ruling.

Details of the case date back to an earlier time when the property developer contracted with an engineering office to implement engineering consulting work which includes reviewing and preparing designs and plans for one of its real estate projects in Dubai, to be submitted to the concerned authorities in order to obtain licences.

The property developer reportedly refrained to pay the fees of the engineering consulting office, after it carried out all designs for the company's project, and the project obtained the necessary licences and the approval of Dubai Municipality and other government bodies.

Moreover, the property developer requested that the consultant be changed as a registered consultant for the project and asked him to hand over the project to Dubai Municipality, to be handed to another consultant.

The consultant reportedly handed over to the property developer all the plans, works and designs, and the amendments he made because he trusted it, demanding that the company pay his fees, but it refused without a reason or legal justification.

“I tasked an expert who was registered with the Dubai Courts to check the services I implemented and determine the value of my fees based on the law and engineering norms. The expert’s report concluded that I was entitled to fees exceeding Dhs15 million," the consultant pointed out.

The court trusted in the expert’s report and then obligated the company to pay the amount that he mentioned in his report, which exceeded Dhs15 million.

Legal adviser, Dr Alaa Nasr, said that the court looking into the case has full power to evaluate the evidence and documents presented and determine what it is comfortable with, adding that it has the absolute power to evaluate the work of experts as they are elements of proof in the case.