Expert calls for review of Construction Laws

Monday 19/10/2009 October, 2009,

By Sarmad Qazi

Unnecessary appointment of “experts” is bogging down the flow of court rulings and delaying the cases being heard in Qatar courts, a legal expert has said.

Ala’a Hamad, managing director of Arab Law Bureau, said the practice is particularly irksome in construction-related cases where the role of experts should be rectified.

Speaking at a Society of Construction Law – Gulf (SCL) event in Doha, Hamad, whose presentation focused on ‘Dispute Resolution and the Qatar Courts’, said: “With the size and complexity of projects (construction) going on in Qatar, we wouldn’t expect a judge to become an expert in matters related to construction.”

In such cases, according to Hamad, experts are appointed with the role of assisting a judge by providing the court a clear picture after checking through technical details and information.

“But in Qatar, too many experts are being asked to actually determine which party is liable in a court case. And that is actually a very valid ground for lawyers for an appeal,” Hamad added.

The Arab Law Bureau’s practice includes construction contracts, banking and project finance, setting up of businesses in Qatar, joint ventures, international contracts and litigation and insurance.

“An expert is an expert and not a judge. There is an inherent defect in the laws that would need to be immediately addressed,” Hamad suggested.

Giving an overview of the laws of the country, Hamad said Qatar has a civil law largely based on Egyptian laws which in turn were influenced by French laws.

Civil law means, laws are generally based on the principle and judgements issued by courts from time to time and are not binding on future rulings.

Shariah does not play a major part in construction claims and is confined to addressing such matters as inheritance disputes among others.

“Prior to 2004, we only had a ministerial decision pursuant to the old building law and it was very limited. After 2004, we have a lot of sections on construction,” Hamad explained.

According to him, when a claim is filed by contractors (in some cases government agencies against contractors), an expert is asked to file a report before the court on what he has seen at the site. There could be more than one expert depending on the size and complexity of the project.

“In one instance, we filed a case against a company claiming QR1mn but the other company said it was only QR800,000 and after re-checking our client agreed to the amount. But in the meantime the judge had already appointed an expert. That slowed down the case, and eventually delayed a decision,” he recalled.

The meeting was chaired by Jennifer Westall (senior associate at Eversheds LLP and member of the SCL committee).