Q: A question of breach of contract; I signed a contract for my cars to be sold. They sold the cars, refuse to pay me my money. Taking it to UAE Arbitration court. What are my chances and will this drag on beyond the arbitration?

Q: We are a software company who have signed a contract with a client. The contract expired in Nov. 2015. We continued to work with the client on the project. We received 5 payments out of 7 payments that were due. Each payment was linked to a milestone in the project. Now the client claims the software solution is not up to the quality they want and they want to sue us for damages. In the contract, we have a clause that says they can sue for a maximum of 50% of the money they paid us. However, each of the 5 payments they made were linked to a milestone of the project contract and the payments that were made were approved by their managers who now claim that the software quality has an issue. Are they entitled to sue for damages? How can we best protect ourselves?

Q: We had rented out 2 x ISO tank containers to a local company in Dubai, who used it for transportation and storage of White Spirit and/or Ethanol. The rent rate was US$13/tank/day and they stopped paying for many months. After repeated emails, and constant pressure and personal visits, they returned the ISO tanks in damaged condition. Now the total unpaid rent, transportation cost and damage cost, is approx. AED 25,000 total. What is my legal remedy? What are my options? Will it be worth it to litigate? What is your advice? Thanks.

The provisions of this law, promulgating UAE Civil Code, govern the civil transactions in the United Arab Emirates. The commercial transactions remain subject to the laws and regulations applicable in their regard.

This Law applies to merchants, as well as to all acts of commerce carried out in the UAE by any person even though he be not a trader. Commercial matters regarding which specific Federal laws are issued shall be subject to the provisions of such laws, and to the provisions hereof which do not contradict with said laws.