Tales Of The Unexpected: Where Liability Lurks Unseen #3

by Melanie Grimmitt

Recap

After a diversion a fortnight ago to address the newsworthy events in Dubai, normal service resumes with this blog. The previous two blogs in this series considered decennial liability and liability for harmful acts under UAE law.

This blog will briefly consider whether it is possible to limit liability under your contract eg by including liquidated damages provisions, and whether the courts will give effect to such a provision.

Limiting liability

On the face of it there seems clear evidence that it is possible to limit liability under a contract – take a look at Article 390(1) of the Civil Code.

However, it is not so certain that such a limitation will be upheld. In fact, the very next provision of the Civil Code (Article 390(2)) suggests that a judge may vary a clause seeking to fix compensation in advance so as to make the compensation fit the amount of loss suffered in the particular circumstances. Not exactly what contract drafters from common law jurisdictions will have expected!

But our contract is commercial not “civil”!

Some commentators have argued that the Civil Code does not apply to commercial contracts, and that therefore parties to commercial contracts can afford to ignore this possibility. This view is based on previous court decisions where the court has declined to apply the Civil Code to commercial contracts. Such a position would accord with English law where additional protection is given to consumer contracts, but where commercial parties who have equal bargaining power have far greater freedom to determine the apportionment of risk and liability between them.

However there is also plenty of case law where the courts have applied the Civil Code to commercial contracts. So better to err on the safe side and assume that this provision is relevant to commercial contracts.

No excuse for fraud or gross negligence anyway

In addition, even were it to be found that the Civil Code did not apply to commercial contracts, the courts would still be likely to interfere with any purported limitation of liability for fraud or gross negligence on public policy grounds.

When will a judge interfere and how?

There is no express guidance in the Civil Code as to the circumstances in which the court will exercise its power under Article 390(2) to adjust the measure of damages to reflect the actual loss. So far as I am aware, even Egyptian law, on which UAE law is in large measure based, only provides guidance on when a fixed amount of compensation may be reduced, rather than when it may be exceeded. Interestingly a similar provision under Bahraini law (also based on Egyptian law in large measure) expressly only refers to a reduction in the amount of fixed compensation where it can be established that no loss has been suffered or the amount fixed was grossly exaggerated (not far from “genuine pre-estimate of loss” perhaps, albeit that the test for genuine pre-estimate of loss is applied at the time the damages are fixed rather than when the loss is suffered).

However, it is possible to draw conclusions as to the application of Article 390(2) from general principles inherent in UAE law that relate to the conduct of parties to a contract. On this basis the courts would be more likely to adjust (or ignore) a limit on liability if the harm results from, for example, conduct by a party which is contrary to good faith, or an act which is wrongful or deliberate.

What to do?

Perhaps the best advice is to adopt the usual methodology to liquidated damages clauses and other “fixing” of liability clauses which would be adopted in common law jurisdictions: make sure the fixed compensation is actually likely to reflect the loss which will be suffered, rather than a windfall gain. And if you receive a claim for what you perceive as a windfall gain, don’t assume you must pay it even though the sum is clearly due under the terms of a contract – there might be grounds for challenge.

 

Kluwer Construction Blog

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