Dubai Court orders man to pay Dhs39.7 million to his brother and sister-in-law

The Dubai Civil Court has ordered a Gulf national to pay Dhs39.7 million to his brother and his sister-in-law.

The defendant was found guilty of managing several properties that were jointly owned by the plaintiffs since the mid-1990s, but failing to hand over their share of the rental income.

This exploitation of his kinship with them was the basis of the court's ruling.

The ruling followed a dispute lasting several years between family members over profits and revenues generated by properties managed solely by the defendant.

According to the papers, a woman from a GCC country filed a civil lawsuit against her brother-in-law. She demanded that he pay her half of the proceeds from a property they had jointly owned since 1996.

She said that he had monopolised the management of the property, renting out its units and collecting rents in his own name without providing her with accounts or handing over her share.

She explained that she had trusted him for many years due to their family relationship, but he had exploited this by refusing to share profits or disclose financial statements, thereby depriving her of her rights for nearly three decades.

In a second lawsuit, her husband sued his brother for monopolising the management of four properties that they had jointly owned since the late 1990s.

The plaintiff claimed that the defendant had signed leases in his own name and collected the proceeds, without transferring the partners' shares or disclosing the actual amount of revenue.

Despite having proof of his ownership of the properties and their official documents, the plaintiff asserted that he never received any money for his share during that period.

In a third lawsuit, the husband sued his brother, claiming that they had owned several properties jointly and equally since 1997. However, one of them had taken on sole management responsibilities without the consent of the others, collecting the rental income for himself and failing to provide accounts.

The husband was therefore forced to resort to the courts to claim his right to the rental income owed to him over more than 25 years.

Due to their close connection in terms of parties and subject matter, the court combined the three lawsuits into one file. An accounting expert was appointed to examine the documents and lease contracts, review revenues and expenditure over the past few years, and determine the sums owed to each party.

Based on the expert's findings, the court concluded that the wife is entitled to Dhs6,256,205, while the husband is entitled to Dhs14,196,377 for four properties and Dhs19,267,417 for a group of properties owned jointly with relatives. The total amount awarded is therefore approximately Dhs39.7 million.

Dr. Alaa Nasr, a legal advisor, said that the court rejected the defendant's arguments for dismissal on the grounds of the statute of limitations. He explained that these are not recurring or renewable rights that lapse after a five-year statute of limitations.

Rather, they are financial rights arising from the management of joint funds and fixed obligations owed by the defendant as an agent of the partners. The court ruled that the rents earned by the defendant constitute a trust in his possession which he must return, and that his failure to do so constitutes a clear breach of his legal and ethical duties towards the partners.