Dubai court rejects yacht ownership claims after final ruling

Dubai: A Dubai court has dismissed a company’s lawsuit seeking to establish ownership of a luxury yacht, ruling that the dispute had already been settled by final court judgments.

The court rejected the claim and ordered the company to pay court costs and Dh6,000 in legal fees.

The company had argued that it financed the yacht’s construction and was its true owner, despite the vessel being registered in the name of another company. It also sought to prevent enforcement of an earlier judgment, alleging that it had been obtained through fraud, deception and collusion.

According to court documents, the company said it had entered into agreements with shipbuilders in 2009 to construct the yacht for its benefit and had paid the purchase price and related costs from its own funds.

It submitted payment records, receipts and other documents, claiming that the yacht was later registered through a separate company established for that purpose.

The company asked the court to recognise it as the true owner and allow the yacht to be registered in its name or that of an affiliated company.

The dispute followed an earlier lawsuit in which a court found that the vessel’s registered title was not genuine and recognised another party as its lawful owner. The earlier judgment also invalidated the transfer and sale of the yacht to another entity and allowed the successful party to register it through an affiliated company.

That ruling was upheld on appeal and by the Court of Cassation, making it final and binding.

The court said the central ownership issue had already been decided and could not be brought before the courts again.

It applied the rule that a final court decision cannot be challenged again, where the dispute involves substantially the same parties, subject matter and legal basis.

The court said the rule also covers the key issues on which an earlier judgment was based.

It found that the previous judgment had conclusively addressed the validity of the yacht’s title and ownership, including the finding that the registered ownership arrangement was invalid.

The company therefore could not use a new lawsuit to challenge or get around the earlier final judgment.

The court also examined the companies’ ownership structure and stressed that each registered company has a separate legal identity from its shareholders, managers and affiliated entities.

It found that the documents submitted by the claimant did not sufficiently prove that it was the yacht’s legal owner or that the company recorded as the owner was merely a nominal holder.

The court found no legal basis to change the findings of the earlier final judgments.

As the main lawsuit was dismissed, the court also rejected the company’s urgent request to suspend enforcement of the previous judgment.

The case was dismissed in full, with the claimant ordered to bear the legal costs and pay Dh6,000 in legal fees.