SAUDI ARABIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Andreas Haberbeck, Derayah LLPC
• Voidable contracts due to lack of capacity or duress: one year from attaining capacity or the end of duress. • Voidable contracts due to mistake, fraud or undue influence: one year from knowledge of the rea- son for invalidity, or ten years from the date of the contract. • Void contracts, such as due to illegality: ten years from the date of the contract. • Tort claims: three years from the date of knowl- edge of the event, or ten years from the date of the event. • Unjust enrichment or mistaken payment: three years from knowledge of right, or ten years from the event. • Unenforceability of disposition: one year from knowledge of the right, or ten years from the date of disposition. • Periodically renewing rights, such as rent on land, wages and regular salaries and the like, with the exception of cases where the right is a yield owed by the person in possession acting in bad faith, or a yield that the overseer of a waqf is obliged to pay over to the beneficiary: ten years. • Claims by members of liberal professions such as doctors, lawyers or engineers: five years from the provision of service, or ten years from the date of the document setting out the right. • Merchants’ rights in connection with goods and services to people who do not trade therein: one year from the provision of goods or services, or ten years from the date of the document setting out the rights. • Rights of hospitality providers such as hotels or restaurants: one year from the provision of service, or ten years from the date of the document setting out the rights. • Rights of service providers for services or goods: one year from the provision of service, or ten years from the date of the document setting out the rights. • Usufruct rights and easements: ten years from last use. 3.3 Jurisdictional Requirements for a Defendant The Saudi Arabian courts have jurisdiction over Saudi Arabian citizens, even if they are not residents of Sau-
di Arabia. The courts in Saudi Arabia have jurisdiction over non-Saudis who are resident in Saudi Arabia and have jurisdiction over non-resident foreigners in the following circumstances. • If the dispute concerns assets in Saudi Arabia or obligations initiated or executed there. • If the dispute involves a bankruptcy declared in Saudi Arabia. • If the dispute is filed against several co-defend- ants, and one of them is subject to the court’s jurisdiction. In addition, the Saudi Arabian courts have jurisdiction over non-resident Muslim foreigners in certain family law and inheritance contexts. 3.4 Initial Complaint From 2020, all actions must be initiated by filing an online brief statement of claim, together with the key documents on which the claimant relies. More detailed submissions can be filed in due course, and in the course of proceedings both parties can change their arguments to a certain extent. 3.5 Rules of Service Service of process on resident individuals and corpo- rations is carried out electronically by the court. Ser- vice outside the jurisdiction must be effected through diplomatic channels. 3.6 Failure to Respond If a defendant fails to appear after having been duly summoned, the claimant can make an application to have the defendant brought before the court by the police. If it is not possible to bring the defendant before the court, a default judgment will be entered. 3.7 Representative or Collective Actions Class actions were first introduced in 2017 before the Committee for the Resolution of Securities Disputes. The Commercial Courts Regulation, 2020, has intro- duced class actions in commercial disputes. A class action before the Commercial Courts requires not less than ten claimants with the same claim and cause and against the same defendant. The claimants must be represented by the same advocate, and the claims must be consolidated into a single statement of claim.
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