Woman gets facial burns during beauty treatment, Dubai court orders salon and a staff to pay Dhs20,000

Dubai Civil Court ordered the owner of a beauty salon and one of her employees to jointly pay Dhs20,000 in compensation to an Arab woman who suffered facial burns during a beauty treatment session.

This followed a final verdict convicting the salon owner, sentencing her to one month in jail with a stay of execution and fining her Dhs5,000. The verdict was upheld by the Court of Appeal.

The case dated back to January 2024 when the plaintiff, accompanied by her minor daughter, went to a beauty salon to have a skin bleaching service done. However, the use of a substance not intended for this purpose and without observing safety procedures led the victims to be burned on the face.

Forensic reports proved that the mother suffered second-degree superficial burns that healed in less than 20 days, while the daughter suffered permanent facial pigmentation that was considered a permanent disability at 3 per cent.

After the final verdict was issued, the mother filed a civil lawsuit in which she demanded that the defendants be obligated to pay Dhs50 thousand in compensation for the material and moral harms that she and her daughter were befallen.

The court ruled not to accept the claim related to the daughter because it was filed by someone with no legal capacity due to her lack of legal representation from her natural guardian, while it accepted the lawsuit related to the mother in her personal capacity.

The court stated that as the final verdict settled the issue of fault and its attribution to the defendant, it could not be re-discussed before the civil court.

It was established that the plaintiff suffered physical and psychological harms, as represented by burns, medical treatment and the purchase of medicines, not to mention the accompanying psychological suffering, the court added.

The court concluded that the two defendants be obligated jointly to pay Dhs20,000 as comprehensive compensation for material and moral harms with legal interest at 5 per cent from the date the verdict became final until full payment. The two defendants were also obligated to pay the incurred fees and expenses.