Electronic Emails as Evidence

In an action initially filed before Abu Dhabi Court, the Court of Cassation held that unless proven otherwise:

Electronic Emails should be afforded due evidential weight; and Electronic Emails shall be treated as an original copy once the transmission of the email from the sender to the recipient is proven. The Abu Dhabi Court held further that the doctrine of "Exceptional Circumstances," which gives the judge the right to intervene and to reduce a broker's commission does not apply if the commission is fixed. Claim A commercial action was filed by a brokerage company ("the Claimant") against a local contracting company ("the Defendant"). The Claimant sought the following from the Court:

Confirmation of an attachment order issued from the summary judge; An order that the Defendant pay brokerage commission amounting to AED 29,812,646; and The Defendant filed a counterclaim against the Claimant in which the Defendant requested, amongst other things, that the actual commission due to the Claimant be reduced from 2% to 0.5 %. Facts of the case The Claimant asserted that it had managed to source one purchaser to buy five towers ("the Towers") in the Al Reem Island development in Abu Dhabi, and that on 22nd Jan 2008 a sale agreement for the concerned towers was concluded between the Defendant and the purchaser for the sum of AED 1,490,632,260 (approximately AED 1.5 billion). The Claimant further averred, however, that the execution of the sale agreement was followed by the execution of an agreement between the Defendant and the Claimant, wherein the Defendant committed itself to pay the Claimant 2% of the purchase price of the Towers as commission. The total commission was stated by the Claimant as AED 29,812,646. The Claimant argued that it had been agreed between the both parties that:

1% of the commission was to be paid to the Claimant by the Defendant upon receipt of the first installment from the purchaser (being 5% of the total purchase price); and The remaining 1% of the commission was to be paid to the Claimant by the Defendant upon the receipt of the second installment that amounts to 5% of the total purchase price within seven days of receiving the notice of payment. The Claimant asserted that the Defendant had received both the first and second installments from the purchaser but had refused and/or failed to pay the due commission to the Claimant. The Claimant further particularised that the Defendant had acknowledged that it was...