Stay of proceedings – What does a request for stay of proceedings need to specify in order to be accepted?

What is a delay in proceedings?

A stay of proceedings is a situation in which one of the parties usually requests the judicial instance hearing the matter to suspend the further investigation of the issue. In most cases, a request to stay proceedings comes following another legal proceeding in which at least one of the parties is involved in the same issue, or following events or circumstances external to the proceeding that may affect the continued conduct of the proceeding before the judicial instance.

Typically, the party requesting a stay of proceedings argues that continuing the proceedings may cause significant harm to the party or that conflicting rulings may be issued by different courts on the same matter. Accordingly, the party may argue that these reasons justify the stay of the proceedings for a short or long period of time (depending on the circumstances).

The parameters that a court will consider for the purpose of staying proceedings

When a court examines a request to stay proceedings, it examines various parameters, They should of course be addressed in a request for a stay of proceedings., such as: the identity of the disputed questions, the identity of the litigants, the efficiency of the discussion, saving resources, preventing contradictory decisions, the convenience of the litigants, a quick decision, and the balance of convenience.

לאחר שבית המשפט שוקל את כל טענות הצדדים הוא לא בהכרח חייב להורות על עיכוב הליכים. בעניין זה בית המשפט העליון קבע כך (רע"א 3051/22 אבוט מעבדות רפואיות נ' מוטי טוויטו, החלטה מיום 18.9.2022):

When considering a request for leave to appeal regarding a stay of proceedings, the appellate court does not put itself in the shoes of the trial court. As is known, the trial court's authority to delay the investigation of a claim due to the existence of a pending proceeding in which a similar substantive question is being clarified is a discretionary authority. However, the court required to make a request for a stay of proceedings must take into account considerations relating to the identity of the disputed questions, the identity of the parties, the efficiency of the hearing, saving resources, preventing contradictory decisions, the convenience of the parties, a speedy decision, and the balance of convenience. (רע"א 7202/18 קוזליק נ' בנק דיסקונט לישראל בע"מ, פסקה 9 (11.2.2019)).

In our case, it seems that Teva's claim and the request for approval raise similar questions, but I did not find it necessary to interfere with the District Court's decision. I was not convinced that Parallel discussion In both proceedings – the request for approval and the Teva claim – this may inevitably lead to contradictory factual decisions, not to mention procedural inefficiency.

Stay of proceedings within the framework of a request to stay the execution of a judgment

A request to stay the execution of a judgment is a type of request to stay proceedings. As is known, Filing an appeal does not hinder the execution of verdict It is being challenged. That is, if, for example, at the end of Civil lawsuit or Financial claim It was ruled that the defendant must pay the plaintiff one million shekels. The mere filing of the appeal does not mean that the defendant does not have to pay the money until the appeal is decided (the appeal process can last several years).

In such a situation, the defendant must in any case pay the plaintiff, but if the appeal is accepted, the plaintiff will be forced to return to the defendant the funds he received from the defendant.

In a situation where it is requested Delay in execution of a judgmentThe applicant must meet two cumulative conditions:

1. Good chances of winning the appeal – the applicant must present convincing arguments as to why the court that issued the ruling was wrong, and that he has good arguments that can change or reverse the outcome of the ruling.
2. Balance of convenience – the applicant must show that if he upholds the judgment and the appeal is accepted, it will not be possible to restore the situation to its original state (for example, if it is determined that a house must be demolished and the house will actually be demolished, if the decision within the judgment is not delayed, accepting the appeal will not restore the house to its original state).

Of the two conditions, the balance of comfort is the more important condition.

בעניין זה בית המשפט העליון קבע כך (עמ"מ 852/23 סוזנה ניראל סודמי נ' המועצה הדתית אשקלון, החלטה מיום 8.3.2023):

As is known, the starting assumption is that filing an appeal does not justify delaying the implementation of a decision to which the appeal relates. (תקנה 145(א) לתקנות סדר הדין האזרחי; וראו, מבין רבים: ע"א 9302/12 שלמה נ' כהן, פסקה 10 [פורסם בנבו] (20.10.2013); ע"א 6616/13 נכסי הצלחה בע"מ נ' בטר פלייס ישראל (ח.ת) 2009 בע"מ (בפירוק), פסקה 13 [פורסם בנבו] (17.10.2013); ע"א 2962/13 חברת רהיטי פורת בע"מ נ' מסיקה, פסקה 9 [פורסם בנבו] (16.05.2013)).

Therefore, a party seeking to deviate from this rule must prove the existence of two cumulative conditions – good prospects of winning the appeal, and that the balance of convenience is in its favor. Within the framework of the balance of convenience condition, the party must prove that if the judgment is enforced, and the appeal is ultimately accepted, it will not be possible to restore the situation to its former state. (ע"א 370/21 אגסי אחזקות נדל"ן בע"מ נ' בנק מזרחי טפחות בע"מ, פסקה 12 [פורסם בנבו] (01.12.2021)).

בין שני תנאים אלה מתקיים יחס של "מקבילית כוחות", כאשר לא אחת נקבע, כי הבכורה מוקנית לשיקול בדבר "מאזן הנוחות" (ע"א 3269/22 יורם כהן נ' כונס הנכסים, פסקה 6 [פורסם בנבו] (13.06.2022); ע"א 8797/16 אובצ'ינקוב נ' סופר, פסקה 16 [פורסם בנבו] (28.05.2018); ע"א 6988/16 מייליק נ' בנק לאומי לישראל בע"מ, פסקה 5 [פורסם בנבו] (31.10.2016)).

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First, I was not convinced that the prospects of an appeal tip the scales in favor of accepting the application.Without setting any precedents on the matter, a review of the trial court's decision suggests that it is a distinctly procedural decision, based on its impression of the efficiency and correctness of the manner in which the proceedings before it were conducted. In particular, whether conducting the hearing between the various respondents, jointly, would lead to a more correct and just result for all parties concerned. This decision was made within the broad scope of discretion afforded to the trial court in such decisions – and the general rule is that it is not for the appellate court to intervene in them…

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Secondly, I am not convinced that the balance of convenience is in favor of granting the application. As regards the applicants' first argument – ​​procedural efficiency and saving resources – this is not a primary consideration, and certainly not one that justifies, in itself, an exception to the rule regarding the non-stay of the decision to which the appeal was submitted. This is especially so when the court did not rule on the possibility of consolidation later on. That is, in any case, splitting the application for certification of a class action into separate applications, at this stage, does not prevent their consolidation or a change in the outline of their consideration later on – and this, inter alia, with reference to similar outlines that were proposed in previous rulings of this court, to which I will refer later.

Delay in execution proceedings

Another situation in which a stay of proceedings may be requested is within the framework of enforcement proceedings. A debtor may request a stay of proceedings against him because he wishes to settle the payment with the creditors or for some other reason.

The Enforcement and Collection Authority explains well what to do to submit Request for stay of execution proceedingsand even allows you to download the relevant forms for submitting the application.

For example, in the event of insolvency:

For example, a request to delay proceedings or lift restrictions:

In general, navigating the Enforcement and Collection Authority website is very simple and very easy to obtain the requested information, whether you are the winner of the case or the debtor in the case:

In conclusion

A party may request a stay of proceedings, but before submitting such a request, he must be thoroughly familiar with the provisions of the case law on this matter in order to know which points he should focus on, such as: the identity of the disputed questions, the identity of the parties, the efficiency of the hearing, saving resources, preventing contradictory decisions, the convenience of the parties, a speedy decision, and the balance of convenience.

In the event of a delay in the execution of a judgment, the party must show and convince the court that he has a good chance of succeeding in the appeal and that the balance of convenience is tilted in his favor.

As part of enforcement proceedings, the party must follow the instructions of the enforcement and collection authority (in accordance with the forms attached to this article).

You can contact Claims lawyer אדי בליטשטיין בעניין עיכובו של הליך בשווי העולה על 100 אלף ש"ח.

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