Dubai court orders medical centre to refund Dh159,000 after failed surgery agreement

Dubai: The Dubai Civil Court has ordered a medical centre to refund Dh159,000 to a patient after ruling that the facility failed to carry out an agreed surgical procedure despite receiving full payment.

The court cancelled the contract between the two parties and directed the medical centre to repay the amount with legal interest of 5 per cent per year, calculated from the date the lawsuit was filed until full settlement. The court also awarded the patient Dh5,000 in compensation for material and moral damages and ordered the centre to pay court fees, expenses and legal costs, including lawyer’s fees.

According to court records, an Arab woman filed a civil lawsuit seeking to hold the medical centre and its manager jointly liable for returning the amount she had transferred to the centre’s account in preparation for a surgery agreed upon under a formal contract.

The claimant told the court that the medical centre repeatedly postponed the operation without setting a final date, ultimately failing to perform the procedure. She argued that the delays deprived her of benefiting from the money she had paid and caused her to miss the appropriate timing for the surgery, constituting a clear breach of contractual obligations.

To support her claim, the patient submitted bank transfer records confirming payment of the full amount, along with WhatsApp conversations detailing the agreement, the centre’s acknowledgment of receiving the funds and later messages informing her of postponements.

She also presented the medical centre’s commercial licence, showing it operates as a single-owner limited liability company specialising in day surgeries.

In its judgment, the court stated that it has the authority to properly characterise claims and apply the relevant legal provisions regardless of how requests are framed by litigants. It noted that the demand for repayment inherently included a request to terminate the contract.

The court found that the patient had fulfilled her contractual obligation by paying the agreed fee, while the medical centre failed to meet its essential obligation to perform the surgery. This breach justified cancelling the contract and restoring both parties to their pre-contractual position.

The ruling also confirmed that electronic communications are considered valid written evidence when not disputed by the opposing party. The court added that the awarded interest serves as compensation for delay in fulfilling financial obligations and is calculated from the date of judicial claim.

The court assessed compensation at Dh5,000, citing the financial harm suffered by the patient due to loss of use of her funds, as well as the psychological distress caused by the failure to carry out the agreed medical procedure.