Abu Dhabi wedding planner ordered to pay Dh22,640 after failing to organise ceremony

Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Commercial Court of First Instance ordered a wedding planning company and its manager to return to a young man the sum of Dh12,640, which he had paid in advance to organise his wedding, in addition to compensating him with Dh10,000, after it was proven that they had breached their contractual obligations and failed to carry out the ceremony on the agreed date, which forced him to seek the help of another company to complete his wedding ceremony. The Court confirmed that the breach of the contracting party’s obligations in contracts that were binding on both parties allows the other party to request termination and return what he paid, in addition to compensation for damages proven to be related to the breach of contract. In detail, a young man filed a lawsuit against a wedding planning company and its manager, demanding that they jointly pay him Dh12,640, and compensate him for all the damages he suffered, which exceeded Dh50,000, or as the Court deems appropriate, while also obligating them to pay the fees and expenses. He indicated that he had entered into a contract with the first defendant (the company) regarding the organisation of his wedding, and had paid the amount claimed to the second defendant in his capacity as the company's manager, as a down payment for the agreed-upon work. However, the defendants did not organise his wedding and did not provide a justification, which forced him to contract with another company to organise the event. The defendants' breach of contract caused him harm. For its part, the Court explained in its ruling that, according to the provisions of the Civil Transactions Law, “in bilateral contracts, if one of the contracting parties fails to fulfil their contractual obligations, the other party, after notifying the defaulting party, may demand the performance or termination of the contract.” The Court noted that, according to the submitted documents, the plaintiff had entered into a contract with the first defendant, the company, to organise his wedding, as detailed in the contract attached to the case file, for a sum of Dh61,000. He transferred Dh12,640 to the company manager (the second defendant). He filed this lawsuit seeking the return of that amount due to the defendants' breach of their contractual obligations and their failure to organise his wedding as agreed. It was established that the defendants had been notified, but no representative appeared to provide evidence of their fulfilment of their contractual obligations to the plaintiff. The Court noted that the plaintiff submitted an invoice issued by another company stating that it had organised his wedding on the same date, which led the Court to conclude that the defendants had breached their contractual obligations to the plaintiff and had not organised the agreed-upon wedding. Therefore, the plaintiff’s request to refund the amount paid by him was in accordance with the facts and the law. Regarding the claim for compensation, the Court indicated that it was proven that the defendants had breached their contractual obligations towards the plaintiff. This breach led the plaintiff to contract with another company to complete his wedding, and he incurred other expenses for which he is entitled to compensation. The Court ruled that the defendants jointly pay the plaintiff an amount of 12,640 dirhams, and jointly compensate the plaintiff with Dh10,000, and obligated them to pay the court expenses.