The Court issued one new Practice Direction in 2022: No. 1 of 2022 – Small Claims.
The Practice Direction was issued in accordance with article 37.2 of the Regulations and Procedural Rules of the Court (the “Rules”), creates a standard procedure for these types of claims, and substantially shortens the time taken from the filing and issuing of a claim to judgment being issued. As noted elsewhere in this Annual Report, a claim recently issued at the end of November 2022 proceeded to judgment before the end of December 2022.
As a general rule of thumb, cases brought by or against an individual or corporation with a monetary value of up to QAR 100,000 will be considered a small claim. Not all claims with a value of QAR 100,000 or less will be allocated to the Small Claims track as if a case has particular features which make it undesirable to be so allocated, then the Registrar may decide not to allocate the case to the Small Claims track.
Once a case is allocated to the Small Claims track, the following standard directions will apply:
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The Claimant will have 7 days in which to serve the Claim Form and any supporting documentation.
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The Defendant will have 14 days from the date of deemed service to either file and serve an admission to the claim, or a Defence. If the Defendant wishes to challenge the jurisdiction of the Court, this should be filed and served along with the Defence.
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The Claimant will have 14 days from the date of deemed service of the Defence to file and serve a Reply.
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The parties will then have a further 7 days in which to file and serve any other relevant material in support of their respective cases.
Small Claims track cases will ordinarily be dealt with on the papers without a hearing unless one of the parties requests a hearing or the Court deems it desirable. Hearings will take place remotely unless the Court considers there are features of the case which make it necessary for an in-person hearing.
The ordinary rule in Small Claims track cases that the unsuccessful party will bear the reasonable costs of the successful party will apply. As Small Claims track cases are decisions of the First Instance Circuit, the normal rules concerning appeals will apply under article 35 of the Rules.