JD, Doha
Answer: As per Article 181 of the Civil and Commercial procedure law, filing an appeal against the judgment shall not stay the execution proceedings. The court hears the appeal and may order for stay of execution, whenever it is requested to do so. If the execution would cause unavoidable harm, the court may, when ordering a stay of execution, order payment of security or whatever it deems appropriate to guarantee the right of the respondent.
Liquidation and settling debts
Q: We have applied for liquidation of our company and all the partners agreed for the same. We decided to close the company because of difference of opinion between the partners. A liquidator was appointed and he has included his name in the CR. There are certain debts to be paid off which are related to some business and the clients are enquiring about their payments. How will the liquidator settle the debts? How will he prioritise the claims? Please explain.
AA, Doha
A: The liquidator shall, by registered letter, notify all creditors on the commencement of liquidation, and shall invite them to submit their claims against the company. The notice shall be published in two local newspapers, of which one shall be in the Arabic language, and on the website of the company, if any, if the creditors or their places of residence are not known. According to Article 313 of the Commercial Company law, the liquidator shall settle the debts of the company after the payment of liquidation expenses including remuneration of the liquidator in the following order of priority: (1) Amounts due to the company employees; (2) amounts due to the state; (3) rent due to the landlord of any property rented to the company and (4) other due amounts each in accordance to its preference with respect to operative legislations.
Non-payment of bank loan
Q: I have submitted some blank cheques to the bank against a loan availed. Due to some issues, I failed to pay two instalments of the loan. I received a call from bank stating that they will initiate action for such dues. What action will be initiated by the bank for non-payment? Can they use that the blank cheques against me? Please advise.
KK, Doha
A: As per procedures, the bank may file a criminal complaint by virtue of the cheque and the case can be referred to the court in order to claim the outstanding amount. In the matter of blank cheques, by endorsing a blank cheque with signature and handing it over to the beneficiary, the drawer of the cheque has effectively granted the beneficiary unqualified authority to fill in the amount. It is advisable to seek settlement with the bank to avoid complications.
Termination of lease agreement
Q: We have started a real estate company in Qatar and have leased many properties in Qatar. The business was not doing well and we incurred a loss because of some legal issues. Now we are not in a position to continue with all the leased property. We discussed with some of the landlords for termination of the lease but some of them are not ready to terminate. Can we terminate the lease agreement with support of court by submitting our difficulties? Please advise.
OA, Doha
A: The tenant can request the court for termination of the contract according to Article 632 of the civil laws of Qatar. As per Article 632, in the event serious unforeseen circumstances arise in connection with either party which makes the continuation of the lease unduly burdensome to such party, the court may, on demand by such party and upon a comparison of the interests of both parties, terminate the lease and fairly indemnify the other party.
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LEGAL SYSTEM IN QATAR
According to Article 293 of the Civil and Commercial Procedure law, the court shall estimate the expenses of witnesses and payment in lieu of their absence from work upon their request. The witness shall be handed a copy of the assessment order to be borne by the litigant who called him to testify. The litigants shall have the right to inspect the minutes of the interrogation, if questioning takes place before the deputed judge but not before the court, or if it takes place before the court but pleadings have not taken place in the same hearing in which witnesses were interrogated.
As per Article 296, the deputed judge shall specify a session as soon as possible to examine the case once the interrogation has ended or upon the expiry of the time limit specified to complete the interrogation. Anyone who fears the loss of an opportunity to provide a witness on an issue which has not yet been brought before the court but is likely to be brought before it may request that the said witness be heard in relation to the concerned parties. Such request shall be submitted to the summary judge and all expenses thereof shall be incurred by the applicant. If necessary, the judge shall decide to hear the witness if the nature of the incident is required to be proven by the testimony of witnesses.
In such a case, a photocopy of the interrogation report may not be handed over or submitted to the court unless the trial court, upon hearing the testimony, considers it valid to demonstrate the occurrence of the event based on the testimony. However, the other litigant, at the hearing of the case, shall have the right to raise an objection before the court against acceptance of such evidence and may also request that defence witnesses be heard in his favour.
According to Article 298, any presumption according to law shall be considered adequate proof for the person in whose interest they have been decided. However, such presumption may be verified by evidence to the contrary unless otherwise provided for. The court may infer each presumption from circumstances of the case and assess its evidence therein. Evidence based on these presumptions shall not be permitted except in cases where the evidence of testimony of witnesses is acceptable.
As per Article 300, judgments that constitute res judicata shall be deemed decisive towards a settlement of the dispute and no evidence contrary to such judgment may be produced. However, such judgments shall not be binding and decisive except in a dispute that arises between the litigants themselves, provided that their identities remain unchanged and that the dispute has relevance to the same right with respect to both subject and cause. The court shall rule independently on res judicata. The civil judgment shall not be linked to the criminal judgment except in the cases where he ruled and the matter is deemed necessary.
Judicial admission is a confession by the litigant or his representative having regard to the law related to an incident that is alleged against him during the course of the case pertaining to such incident. The person who confessed shall be sane, of age and unconstrained by law. Non-judicial admission is the admission that is not made before the law, or is made before the law in a case other than the one in which the incident is admitted. Non-judicial admission is subject to the discretion of the judge and shall be proved in accordance with the general rules of evidence.