Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Commercial courts have issued rulings in a total of 1,181 cases in November with an average of 59 verdicts daily, the Ministry of Justice said in a statistical report.

The report said the courts, which were separated from the Court of Grievances and added to the general judiciary in October, receive an average of about 100 lawsuits daily.

It said most of the rulings were issued by commercial courts in Riyadh, Makkah and the Eastern Province.

The report said the complaints consisted of cases in the areas of renting, imports, contracting, arbitration and others including bankruptcy, brokerage and intellectual property rights.

It said the number of cases filed at the first degree courts in November was 77,423, which is a drop of about 2 percent over the previous month.

The commercial courts worked as circuits in general courts before they were separated and made into full-fledged courts.

The report said the personal affairs cases represented about 47 percent of the total number of the lawsuits filed in Saudi courts. General cases represented 36 percent while criminal cases were 17 percent, the ministry said.

It said the first degree courts issued as many as 50,373 rulings, which is an increase of 30 percent over their number in November last year.

According to the report, requests for the execution of verdicts increased by 68 percent to reach 53,706 cases, of which 97 percent were requests to regain amounts worth more than SR19 billion.