The Dubai Courts confirm the limited role of the courts in reviewing arbitral awards

In two recent Judgements, the Dubai courts confirmed the arbitration friendly position of the courts when analysing the scope of Article 53 of the UAE Arbitration Law, which provides an exhaustive list of grounds to nullify arbitral awards.

On 25 November 2024, the Dubai Court of Cassation, in case No 1115 of 2024JY, confirmed the following principles:

• No Review of Merits: 

The court confirmed that filing a nullification claim against an arbitral award does not allow the reconsideration of the merits of the case by the court hearing the nullification claim. The court shall not review the application of the applicable laws by the arbitral tribunal and assess whether it applied it in an accurate manner or not. 

• Assessment of Evidence: 

The matter of assessing and admitting evidence is under the sole jurisdiction and discretion of the arbitral tribunal, and the arbitral tribunal decision in that regards may not be grounds for nullifying the award.

In another case, on 12 November 2024, Case No 864 of 2024, the Court of Cassation reconfirmed important principles.

• The court confirmed that, if the agreement to arbitrate includes preconditions to arbitration which were not followed by the parties prior to filing the arbitration case, this does not give jurisdiction to domestic court in any manner. The arbitral tribunal shall always have jurisdiction; and the question will be whether the case was filed prematurely or not, which falls under the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal. The court should have very limited authority to review that, establishing the rights of defence and the public order. 
• The legislature intention is to limit the grounds for nullifying arbitral awards, and the court should be flexible in reviewing any claim of procedural irregularity. The court should only consider a procedural as null if the law explicitly provides for such nullity.
• The court confirmed that when the parties opt to adopt institutional rules (such as the ICC Arbitration Rules), such rules shall prevent the application of the procedural rules of the Arbitration Law, provided it does not conflict with the public policy.
• The nullification grounds set out under the Arbitration Law are provided as an exclusive list, and the court should apply a restrictive approach and not adopt any sort of analogy in reviewing a nullification claim. 

These judgments of the Dubai courts confirm the friendly approach of the courts towards arbitration awards and the limited power of the courts to review arbitration awards.

This article was first published in the UAE edition - Legal Industry Review (LIR), edition no.2, January 2025.