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: Hi, We are a technical & cleaning service provider. We worked on the facade cleaning of Hotel Apartments and submitted our invoice on the 18th of March 2018. As per our contract, we receive our payment within 15 days after the submission of the invoice. But this time we are chasing them for the 15 days period which was on April 4, 2018. Every time we ask, their finance department was replying that the signatory is not available. Yesterday, the 28th of July, we arranged a meeting with their GM and discussed everything with him. We were shocked that the GM said: "Go to the police, we will not pay you anything." I replied, "Why"? He said, "The management is not willing to pay anything to anyone". We have the contract with them, a copy of the submitted invoice, and photos of all work progress. Advise us, what should we do? Regards, S. S. H. Managing Director

Q: Respected Sir / Ma'am, I am an IT service provider. I got a project from one of the companies in Abu Dhabi to perform a System Implementation. I have completed the project and have raised the invoice for the same, but the customer is not paying the amount. It amounts to about 30000 USD. I am calling for a Steering Committee meeting as per the contract/proposal terms to resolve the issue of not paying me. The IT team, to whom I am reporting is just not letting the Steering Committee meeting to happen. I have other projects running in parallel with the same client. I have issued a "Credit Hold" and stopped all activities with proper notice and have all details on email communication. Still, they are not calling for a meeting / trying to resolve the issue... What are my options to recover the amount? If at all I have to hire a lawyer, what will be the costs for the same? Would appreciate your advice/recommendations greatly. Thanks and regards, Raj

Q: We received an LPO to execute a project with a specific material recommended by the client who gave us an LPO but now after shipping the materials to UAE, they are not accepting the material and they are asking for a change of material. From our side, it is impossible to return the material as we have made payments and we cannot send it back. We are holding the materials for almost 3 months now in a warehouse and we are totally stuck. We have shipped the material only with written approval and confirmation from the client and there is no cancellation clause stated in the LPO as well. The material contributes to 85% of the project value. What would be the best thing to do in this scenario?

Q: Dear Legal Experts, I have a client who had hired me for a film production project in 2020. He cleared some advance but then during the filming, some more services were added to the job and he owed me around USD 7000 after the filming was completed. However, despite several follow-ups, he finally refused to clear my payment citing damages made by models provided by us - which is baseless. I passed the case to a collection agency but there was no result as he is not responding to any communication. What should I do?

Q: My business has been issued with a legal notice from a client, accusing us of professional negligence and asking to settle a monetary amount within 10 days or they will initiate legal action. We are a pet business and the client left her dog with us for 4 hours. After she collected him, the dog fell ill and had to go to a vet. Both the client and the vet have not been able to tell us what caused the sickness, and we have this in writing from both. We have said we are not liable as we do not know the cause. Do they have any legal basis to file a case? They have quoted Civil Transaction Law

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.

The law promulgates UAE Civil Procedures Code (Civil Procedure Law) which governs civil procedures in the United Arab Emirates, including the prosecution before the courts, litigation and execution.

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.