Injured in a mall, hotel, shop or someone's home in the UAE

The person or business that controls the machine, animal, building or object that hurt you is liable for the harm, with narrow defences such as an outside cause.¹

Who is responsible if you are hurt in a mall, hotel or shop?

The Civil Transactions Law says every act that causes harm to another obliges whoever did it to compensate.¹ For premises, three rules matter most:

Sources for Table 1

Articles 266 and 268 to 271 of the Civil Transactions Law.¹

The owner of a thing is presumed to be the person in control of it, unless they prove control passed to someone else.¹

Does a “not responsible for injuries” sign protect the business?

No. Any condition that exempts a person from, or reduces, liability for a harmful act is void.¹ That covers signs, tickets and booking terms.

Photograph the sign anyway. It shows what the business knew about the risk.

What should you do straight after the accident?

Get treatment first: call 998 for an ambulance if you need one.² Then record what happened while it is fresh. Use the checklist on this page.

A business can defend itself by proving the harm came from an outside cause, such as force majeure, the act of a third party or the act of the injured person.¹ Evidence taken on the day is how you answer that.

What if you were partly to blame?

A court can reduce your compensation, or refuse it, if your own act helped cause or worsen the harm.¹

Who is liable if a child is hurt or causes harm?

A person who must supervise a minor is liable for harm the minor causes to others. Supervision passes to the school teacher while the child is under the teacher’s supervision. The supervisor escapes liability by proving they supervised with proper care, or that the harm would have happened anyway.¹

If your child is hurt at a play area, school or pool, ask the operator for its incident report and keep the medical records.

What if you were hurt on or near a building site?

If you work on the site, the labour law applies: your employer pays treatment, wages during treatment and compensation.^3,4 See injured at work.

If you were passing by, the rules above apply to whoever controls the site, its machinery and any structure that falls.¹ Anyone threatened by a dangerous building, machine or thing can ask its owner or controller to make it safe, and if they do not act in reasonable time, ask a court to authorise the work at their cost.¹

What if it happened in someone’s home?

The same rules apply to a homeowner who controls the dangerous thing or animal.¹ If the injured person is your domestic worker, see domestic worker injuries.

What can you claim, and by when?

Your loss, the earnings you lost, and moral harm. Spouses and relatives up to the second degree can claim moral harm if you are disabled or killed.¹ The claim must be brought within three years of learning of the harm and who is responsible, and never more than 15 years after the accident.¹ See time limits.

Ask the business which insurer handles its liability claims, and write to both.

The small print

The articles are from Federal Decree-Law 25 of 2025, the Civil Transactions Law in force since 1 June 2026: 246 (duty to compensate), 249 (outside cause), 253 (contributory fault), 254 (moral harm), 255 (loss and lost profit), 257 (exemption clauses void), 258 (time limits), 265 (supervision of minors), 266 (employer liability), 267 (recourse), 268 to 271 (control of things, animals, buildings and machinery) and 272 (preventive measures).^1,5