Woman demands Dh100,000 compensation for phone call

An Arab woman has demanded compensation of 100,000 dirhams for the psychological and moral harm she suffered as a result of another woman insulting and slandering her during a phone call between them.

She said she suffered repeated fainting spells and went to the hospital for treatment, and the Dubai Civil Court awarded her 20,000 dirhams in compensation.

In detail, a woman of Arab nationality filed a lawsuit in which she requested compensation for the material and moral damages she suffered, with legal interest of 12% until the amount is paid, in addition to fees and attorneys’ fees.

The plaintiff said in her lawsuit statement that she was subjected to the most heinous insults and phrases from the defendant during a phone call between them, which reached the point of attacking her morals and her family, and describing her as a street child.

She added that the defendant sent her a text message in which she continued to insult her father and mother, which prompted her to file a report against her with the police.

The Public Prosecution referred the accused to the Misdemeanour Court, which fined her. However, she was not satisfied with the ruling and appealed it before the Court of Appeal, which upheld the initial ruling after it found that it had correctly concluded her conviction.

The plaintiff explained in a legal memorandum submitted to the civil court that she had suffered serious harm resulting from the assault, slander, and ugly insults that offended modesty and defamed her reputation, noting that what was included in the phone call and messages affected her honor and the reputation of her family, and was sufficient to pin a charge sufficient to destroy her life and make her an outcast from society forever.

She stated that what she was exposed to caused her embarrassment among her family, caused her emotional harm, left behind major psychological consequences and crises, deep wounds, and caused her to suffer from a disorder that required her to go to the hospital for treatment for repeated fainting spells, which affected her ability to work or pursue her various life activities.

She added that the damages are not sufficient except for the compensation she demanded, which is 100 thousand dirhams, and she submitted as evidence for her claim a document portfolio containing a copy of the initial ruling issued against the defendant, a certificate from the Public Prosecution regarding the finality of the ruling, and a medical report describing the repeated seizures that the plaintiff had been suffering from.

In the absence of the defendant, the court stated that it had established that the defendant had been convicted by the criminal court of defamation, and that she had attached evidence proving her intent to insult the plaintiff, and that a final judgment had been issued fining her, as proven by a certificate issued by the Public Prosecution in Dubai. Accordingly, the court had decided on the common ground between the criminal and civil cases, and the civil court was bound by this, in its commitment to respecting the validity of judgments that transcend considerations of public order in what it had decided regarding defaming the defendant, since the statements she had directed at her constituted an insult to her person and diminished her value, which means that there was an error on the part of the defendant.

Regarding the compensation stipulated in the lawsuit, the court stated that every person has the right to be free from moral harm that affects dignity, feelings or honour, including psychological pain.

She explained that it was proven to her that the plaintiff had suffered severe moral damage to herself as a result of the defendant’s insults to her, which is considered one of the elements of moral damage that requires compensation for regret, pain, feelings of oppression and belittlement, in addition to the material damage she had suffered, represented by the expenses she had spent on the complaint and litigation and the disruption that this had caused her to enjoy her life interests. Therefore, the court estimated the compensation for this damage at 20,000 dirhams.

The defendant sent a text message to the plaintiff insulting her parents.