SAUDI ARABIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Andreas Haberbeck, Derayah LLPC
8.3 Enforcement of Settlement Agreements A settlement agreement made in the course of legal proceedings has the effect of a judgment. If a settle- ment agreement is notarised or formally sealed, it can be enforced like a judgment. 8.4 Setting Aside Settlement Agreements If a settlement agreement is obtained fraudulently or without authority, it can be set aside by the court. 9. Damages and Judgment 9.1 Awards Available to the Successful Litigant The Civil Transactions Regulation, 2023, has intro- duced major changes to the remedies that are avail- able in Saudi Arabian legal proceedings. Article 136 of the Civil Transactions Regulation, 2023, provides that compensation shall be such as makes good the harm in full, by restoration of the injured party to the position they were in, or could have been in, but for the occurrence of the harm. Article 137 of the Civil Transactions Regulation, 2023, provides that one can claim for lost earnings, thereby opening the door to loss-of-profit claims. Under Arti- cle 138 of the Civil Transactions Regulation, 2023, compensation for moral damage may be claimed, which includes sensory or mental suffering, conse- quent upon prejudice to the claimant’s: • body; • Breaches of obligations may result in orders for specific performances or monetary compensation if specific performances are not possible. 9.2 Rules Regarding Damages In cases of death or accidental personal injury, the responsible party is liable to pay blood money (Arabic: “diyah” in case of death, and “arsh” in personal injury cases) as compensation to the victim or the victim’s heirs. The amount of blood money payable for acci- dental death was fixed early in the history of Islam at • liberty; dignity; • reputation; or • social standing.
It is within the tribunal’s discretion to appoint an expert and to accept or disregard all or part of the expert’s findings, but ordinarily the determination of technical or complex financial issues falls to the expert. The Evidence Regulation, 2021, sets out detailed rules governing expert evidence. 7.6 Extent to Which Hearings Are Open to the Public Saudi Arabian proceedings are inquisitorial in nature and the judge has full conduct of the proceedings, including the questioning of witnesses. A judge may raise issues that neither party has raised. A judge can issue a judgment whenever they are satis- fied that both parties have presented their case fully. This is usually done in the course of a hearing and a written judgment is issued a few weeks later. 7.8 General Timeframes for Proceedings See 1.3 Court Filings and Proceedings . 7.7 Level of Intervention by a Judge Before the COVID-19 crisis and the move to electronic proceedings, legal proceedings typically took from 18 to 30 months to reach a final judgment. This has not changed with the introduction of electronic litigation, which proceeds at the same pace as physical hear- ings used to take. It is open to the parties to settle a dispute at any time without the court’s approval, but court proceedings will only be formally discontinued if the claimant with- draws their complaint or the settlement is recorded before the court. 8.2 Settlement of Lawsuits and Confidentiality Given that court proceedings before courts and tri- bunals other than the Commercial Courts are treated as confidential, settlements of lawsuits before them also remain confidential. A settlement recorded in the Commercial Courts’ records is not confidential unless one or both parties convince the court to treat the information as such. 8. Settlement 8.1 Court Approval
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