Can I sue a Dubai driving institute which misplaced my passport?

Question

As per procedure, I submitted my passport with a driving institute in Dubai. Have a valid receipt for the same. Now the institute says passport is lost! Last records indicate it was received in their branch office. The institute has stopped searching for it. All senior officials have been contacted with no avail. What can I do? Can I sue them? Please help.

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

CAN you sue? Maybe.

First, are you a Muslim?

Dubai uses Shari'a, or Islamic law, and if you're a non-Muslim you have no standing in the law, and can't file suit on your own behalf. There are ways around this - if you have, for example, a Muslim employer he may be able to sue on your behalf.

Can you win? That's also dependant on the issue of if you're a Muslim. If you are not, then the receipt is virtually useless, as it can only be used as supporting evidence if conflicting verbal testimony is offered to the court.

Since testimony can only be offered by a Muslim man, if they say "He never gave us his passport" you can't show the receipt as evidence that you DID, unless someone first gives verbal testimony to hat - and if you're not Muslim it would need to be a Muslim man who actually saw you hand them your passport. THEN the receipt could be introduced as support as to who was telling the truth.

Even if you win, the recompensable damages are likely to be only the replacement fee that your Embassy charges you to issue a new Passport.

Richard

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

Great. that does give me an idea. Helpful answer. Thanks.

Answer 2

great - that means some jerk has probably taken your passport to come into other countries illegally.

Answer 3

i would say probably not. the phily passport office lost my passport and i had to get a new one.