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Annulment of a court ruling – when is it possible?

Joshua Pex
Joshua Pex

Is it possible to request an annulment of a court ruling? If so – when? This is a complex issue which is particularly relevant in cases where the ruling cannot be appealed, but circumstances arise which require altering the legal outcome. Israeli law dictates rules for annulment of court rulings made in the absence of the defense, and there have also been rulings in which it was decided that in certain exceptional cases a verdict may be annulled in order to do justice. What are these cases and how may a court ruling annulment be requested? This will be explained extensively in the following article.

In our law office, with branches in Jerusalem and in Tel Aviv, there are attorneys who specialize in all the various branches of civil law. Attorneys from our office have extensive experience in providing legal counsel and representation in fields such as commercial law and contract law, tort law, immigration law, corporate law, labor law, family law, bankruptcy (insolvency) and intellectual property.

ביטול פסק דין – מתי זה אפשרי?

The final judgement rule – background and problems

The legal system handles an enormous number of lawsuits which are filed and tried in the various courts. In order to maintain the order and stability of the system, there is a principle called “final judgement”. According to this principle, a court ruling that was not appealed, or that cannot be appealed anymore, becomes final after the last deadline for appeal, meaning its legal outcome can no longer be altered.

This may cause many legal problems. For instance, what happens when the person who was sued was unaware of the suit? Alternatively, what happens in cases where circumstances subsequently changed sharply, requiring the legal outcome of the court ruling to be overturned? These are not merely theoretical questions, but rather real cases that have come to court. As a result, the final judgement principle has been somewhat restricted by the creation of rules that allow for the annulment of court rulings in certain cases.

Annulment of a court ruling because the defense was absent

One of the prominent cases in which, under certain circumstances, it is possible to annul a court ruling, is when the court ruling was made in the presence of only one side, without the defense. In other words, the ruling was decided solely based on the plaintiff’s arguments, without the defendant presenting arguments in their defense. This might occur, for instance, when for some reason the statement of claim was not sent to the defendant and they did not present a statement of defense because they were unaware of the lawsuit.

Regulations on the subject state that in these cases, the party ruled against is eligible to submit a request to annul the ruling within 30 days. The request must specify the reasons for not submitting the defendant’s arguments within the statement of defense, and to explain why the defense has a good chance of winning the lawsuit, in order to justify rehearing the case after the court had already ruled on it. If the request is accepted and the ruling is annulled, the defendant will usually be required to submit a statement of defense, and the legal proceedings will continue. It is important to take into account that the court may charge the defendant for expenses caused by the annulment request, and even determine that paying the expenses is a condition for annulling the court ruling.

Annulment of a conclusive court ruling (which cannot be appealed anymore)

Unlike the first case, of a ruling that was decided in the absence of the defense, in a case where the court ruling has become conclusive, the legal situation is more murky and complex. Because the law does not provide explicit instructions regarding this specific issue, over the years the courts have made rules that allow for petitioning for annulment of a court ruling that became conclusive. It is important to know that the cases that have been recognized as justifying this are extremely rare and anomalous.

The main cases where this may be possible are ones in which the court ruling was obtained fraudulently (for instance, by a forged signature on a fundamental document in the proceedings, or by presentation of false evidence). Beyond that, the court has ruled that there may be other cases where, despite the final judgement principle, it is possible to annul a ruling and reopen the case. For instance, in a precedent-setting ruling by the Supreme Court in 2003, the court recognized the possibility in principle to annul a court ruling due to new and highly significant evidence being discovered, which could not have been obtained during the original proceedings. It is important to clarify that these are rare and exceptional cases, and it is important to assess the probability of success of these cases by consulting with an expert civil law attorney.

Contact an expert civil law attorney

In this article we have explained the possibility of annulling a court ruling, in cases where the ruling was decided in the absence of the defense or in other anomalous cases (such as a ruling that was obtained fraudulently or the discovery of significant new evidence). If you have specific questions or require assistance on the subject, our office is at your service. Attorneys from our office specialize in a variety of branches of civil law, and have extensive experience in representing individuals and businesses before all the law courts in Israel.

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