Case study 01

A failed property purchase and a returned deposit

Purchasers of a property valued at AED 2.7 million could not complete the transaction for reasons outside their control, and were then sued for the failure.

What happened

Our clients had agreed to buy a property valued at AED 2.7 million and had placed a deposit cheque of AED 270,000. The transaction did not complete.

The reasons sat outside our clients' control. The seller's position was that the buyers had caused the failure and should carry its cost, which put both the deposit and a further liability in play.

What we did

We reconstructed the sequence from the contract and the correspondence, and established which obligations had fallen due, on whom, and in what order.

The defence rested on that chronology and on the contractual conditions that were never satisfied, rather than on either party's account of what had been said.

How it ended

The Court ordered the return of the AED 270,000 deposit cheque and dismissed the claim seeking to hold our clients liable for the failed transaction.

Identifying details are withheld. Past outcomes do not predict the result of any other matter, and nothing on this page is advice on yours.

Case studies

All case studies

Construction and commercial dispute

A construction contract terminated without justification

A specialised construction contract was terminated suddenly. The claim was dismissed at first instance, and that decision was overturned on appeal.

Amount in dispute: AED 1,646,658 awarded
Result: AED 1,646,658 in compensation, awarded on appeal

Investment and corporate dispute

An investment claim of AED 6.4 million dismissed in full

An investor sought to recover more than AED 6.4 million and to rescind an investment agreement. The claim failed on the claimant's own obligations.

Amount in dispute: More than AED 6.4 million
Result: Claim dismissed in its entirety, costs against the claimant