- Date of the appeal in cassation of the payment order is fifteen days from the day following the notification of the convicted debtor of the payment order. The notification shall be in person according to Article 65 of the bylaws of the Civil Procedure Law.

- The Court shall verify the notification of the order issued and that it was correctly notified until the date of appeal in cassation becomes effective, considering that the verification is one of the requirements of forfeiture of the right of appeal.

- The contested judgment ruling the forfeiture of the right to appeal without stating if the Appellant in cassation was notified of the payment order and stated only a small expression that the appeal was made after the specified date, entailing the forfeiture of right. Nullifying neglect. It shall be reversed.

Whereas, in the facts - as apparent in the contested judgment and the rest of the documents - the Respondent submitted a payment order no. 1857 of 2019 requesting the issuance of an order to compel the Appellant in cassation to pay him the amount of AED 3,376,550 by virtue of cheques issued by him as they were presented to the drawee bank and they were rejected due to insufficient funds. On 22/4/2019, the magistrate of summary justice issued his order to compel the Defendant (Appellant in cassation) to pay to the Plaintiff (Respondent) the claimed amount with a legal interest of 5% from the due date until final settlement, along with the expenses. The Appellant in cassation filed his grievance against the said order before the Court of First Instance requesting to cancel such order for lack of capacity and that the cheque drawer is ......... Construction Contracting Company. The Court of First Instance ruled that it has no specific competence to settle the grievance and referred it to the competent Court of Appeal based on Article 85 of the Civil Procedure Law. The Respondent appealed this judgment under appeal no. 1659 of 2019 and the Appellant in cassation appealed it under no. 1694 of 2019. On 24/12/2019, the Court of Appeal ruled the following:

First: In the subject of appeal no. 1659 of 2019, to accept it in the form and in the matter, to reject the appealed judgment and re-rule that the appeal shall not be settled as it was not handled in the legal manner, while compelling the Respondent to pay the appeal fees and expenses and an amount of five hundred Dirhams for the attorney’s fees.

Second: In the subject of appeal no. 1694 of 2019, to forfeit the right of appeal for filing the same after expiry of the period, while compelling the Appellant to pay the fees and expenses of his appeal.

The Appellant in cassation appealed this judgment through cassation and whereas the appeal was submitted to this Court in a Council Chamber, the latter deemed that the appeal in cassation deserves consideration and specified a hearing to be announced to the parties.

Whereas the Appellant in cassation objects to the contested judgment for violation of the Law and deficiency in reasoning, as it ruled the forfeiture of his appeal filed on the order issued against him in absentia and the judgment was based on the reasons thereof that the appeal was filed on 15/09/2019, fifteen days after the date of being aware of the payment order, while it is proved in the documents that the Appellant in cassation was not notified in person of the payment order as per Article 65 of the bylaws of the Civil Procedure Law, then it violated the Law and it shall be reversed.

Whereas this objection is valid, as it is legally prescribed that the date of appeal in cassation of the payment order shall be fifteen days from the day following the announcement of the payment order to the convicted debtor.