Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 6

Summary: - A litigant’s submission of documents drawn up in a foreign language. An official translation or an unofficial translation to which the opposing litigant does not object must be attached. Article 74/3, Civil Procedure. - The appellant’s submission to the court of the merits of a lawyers’ fees agreement drawn up in English without submitting an official translation of that agreement or an unofficial translation to which the respondent did not object. Consequence: the court may disregard it and exercise its authority to assess the actual lawyers’ fees incurred by the appellant in light of what it considers appropriate to the effort expended, taking account of the subject matter of the action and the level of litigation. Rule: The meaning of the second paragraph of Article 74 of the Civil and Commercial Procedure Law is that, if a litigant submits documents drawn up in a foreign language, an official translation or an unofficial translation to which the opposing litigant does not object must be attached. That being so, the lawyers’ fees agreement submitted by the appellant was drawn up in English, and the appellant does not dispute that he did not submit to the court of the merits an official translation of that agreement or an unofficial translation to which the respondent did not object. The court therefore cannot be faulted for disregarding it and exercising its authority to assess the actual lawyers’ fees incurred by the appellant in light of what it considered appropriate to the effort expended, taking account of the subject matter of the action and the level of litigation. The challenge to the judgment on this ground is accordingly inadmissible.