Cancellation of a judgment under Section 79A – Is it possible to cancel such a judgment?

Before talking about overturning a ruling under Section 79A, we need to understand what that mysterious Section 79A is that gives judges the ability to issue a ruling. which is almost impossible to challenge.

Section 79A of the Courts Law states as follows:

79A. (a) A court hearing a civil matter may, with the consent of the parties, rule on the matter before it, in whole or in part, by way of compromise.

(b) Nothing in subsection (a) shall derogate from the court's authority to offer the parties a compromise arrangement or, at the request of the parties, to give effect to a judgment for a compromise arrangement they have made between them.

Annulment of a judgment under Section 79A is a rare event and the grounds for annulment of a judgment under Section 79A are different from those under Section 79A. Cancellation of a judgment in the absence of a defense or appearance.

Article 79A The Courts Law Gives the parties the option (this is not mandatory) to authorize the court to rule by way of compromise. In such a case, only if both parties agree, the court may give a judgment at any stage of the hearing. In the case where a judgment is given under Section 79A, the judgment will usually not be reasoned, but the court will determine whether it accepts the claim in full or in part, or rejects the claim completely (i.e. the court may reach any result and not just rule in favor of the plaintiff).

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The lack of reasoning for a judgment rendered under Section 79A and the parties' agreement to compromise are the reasons that make it so difficult to appeal such a judgment, and this is why overturning a judgment under Section 79A is an almost impossible task.

Cancellation of a judgment under Section 79A – When will the judgment be canceled?

Cancellation of a judgment under Section 79A can be requested in very exceptional cases. One of those cases is when the court is exposed to a claim or some document but does not allow the opposing party to review that document before actually rendering the judgment.

Such a case recently came before the District Court as part of a request for leave to appeal against Financial claim אשר נדונה במסגרת תביעה קטנה (רת"ק 62549-07-22 עודד רזיאל נ' יונתן יולבץ, פסק דין מיום 9.11.2022).

The District Court explained in this case why annulling a judgment under Section 79A is exceptional and why in this case there was nevertheless reason to annul the judgment. Among other things, it ruled as follows:

בית המשפט העליון בע"א 6780/19 State of Israel v. Hadassah Medical Federation [Published in Nevo] (16.8.20) Discusses in detail the essence of a ruling on the path of compromise.

נקבע על ידי כב' השופט גרוסקופף בסעיף 16 לפסק דינו ,כי סעיף 79 א' לחוק לא מפרש מהי אותה פסיקה בדרך של פשרה אך לפי פסיקת בתי המשפט "…התגבשה העמדה כי משמעותה של אפשרות זו היא שחרור בית המשפט מכבלי הדין הפרוצדורלי והמהותי, והנחייתו לפסוק באופן הנראה לו הוגן וצודק בנסיבות העניין, בהתאם למכלול החומר שהונח לפתחו…".

עוד נקבע שם, כי ברירת המחדל היא שבהעדר קביעה אחרת, בית משפט לא ינמק את הכרעתו הניתנת לפי סעיף 79 א' וכי "ראוי לו שיימנע ממתן הנמקות" (ראה שם בסעיף 18). זאת על מנת שלא תפגע התכלית שעומדת מאחורי הסמכת בית משפט לפסוק על דרך הפשרה: רצון הצדדים לפשט ההליך ולזרזו ולצמצם את אפשרות הערעור "למקרים נדירים ויוצאי דופן".

…

Reasoning may thwart the goals behind the possibility of issuing a judgment under Section 79A, as reasoning may create a basis for filing an appeal against the decision where the parties' desire was to simplify and expedite the procedure by limiting the possibility of appeal to rare and exceptional cases (see ibid., Section 18).

In the same ruling, it was emphasized that the criteria for appellate intervention in unreasoned judgments under Section 79A are very narrow (see Section 21). "…ודוק, אין בידינו רשימה סגורה של מקרים יוצאי דופן אלה, ואולם המרכזיים שבהם עוסקים במצבים של חריגה מסמכות או תוצאה בלתי הוגנת ובלתי צודקת בעליל…".

I believe that in this case, the fact that a court received documents from one party during a hearing without allowing the opposing party to review them or explaining why he should not be allowed to review them, all without documentation in the minutes, impairs the procedure.

A hearing record is supposed to reflect what happened at the hearing. If the issue of the presentation of the documents and their review by a court alone was not documented, it cannot be argued against the applicant that he should have asked the court not to review the documents and why he did not do so.

All dealings with documents lack even concise documentation.

Specifically in the process of issuing an unreasoned judgment under Section 79A of the Law, it is important for the parties to know what material was before the court before it rendered its judgment.

Since I have reviewed the documents myself and do not rule out the possibility that the documents had some influence on the outcome of the verdict, I believe that this is the exceptional case in which the judgment given in accordance with Section 79A of the Law should be intervened and annulled.

In conclusion

Canceling a judgment under Section 79A may encounter considerable difficulty because it is a judgment given by way of compromise and without reasons. Even before the judgment is rendered, the court explains to the parties the implications and difficulties, and they must know that agreeing to a judgment under Section 79A involves both advantages (receiving a quick judgment) and disadvantages (almost impossible to appeal it).

The ruling recognized a number of exceptions, so it cannot be said that it is not possible to demand the annulment of a judgment under Section 79A at all. Those exceptional cases relate to a situation in which the court exceeded its authority or reached a clearly unfair and unjust result.

If you are considering requesting the annulment of a judgment under Section 79A, it is worth consulting with Claims lawyer Experienced. Please note that these cases are not served. Request to cancel a claim.

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding the Cancellation of a Judgment Under Section 79A