Submitting a claim – how do you do it correctly in a civil lawsuit?

Serving a statement of claim on the defendant in a civil lawsuit is an important step in the continuation of the lawsuit, which is sometimes not given due consideration. It is important to understand that failure to properly serve a statement of claim may actually harm the plaintiff, because as long as the statement of claim is not properly served on the defendant, the legal process will not actually begin.

The practical meaning of failure to properly serve a claim is that even if the defendant does not file Defense At that time, the plaintiff will not be able to file a request for Judgment in the absence of a defenseIn such a situation, the court is expected to require the plaintiff to provide the court with proof that delivery was made lawfully, and if the plaintiff is unable to do so, the court will instruct the plaintiff to make delivery, sometimes by personal delivery (by courier).

This failure on the part of the plaintiff will in fact lead to the investigation of his claim being prolonged (and it is clear that the plaintiff's goal is to shorten the procedure as much as possible) because the date for filing a defense will be determined according to the date of delivery of the Claim In accordance with the provisions of the Civil Procedure Regulations.

מסירת כתב תביעה כדין – הוראות תקנות סדר הדין האזרחי ("התקנות החדשות")

When submitting Civil lawsuit or Financial claim The plaintiff is required to provide a copy of the letter of claim to the court secretariat and to the defendant (if the claim involves multiple defendants – a separate copy of the letter of claim must be provided to each defendant, except in a situation where they are represented by the same lawyer).

Delivery of a claim toMagistrate's Court או בית המשפט המחוזי יש לבצע בהתאם להוראות תקנות סדר הדין האזרחי, תשע"ט – 2018. תקנות אלה מפרטות מדוע חשוב להמציא את כתב התביעה וכיצד יש לעשות זאת נכון.

Regulation 158 states as follows:

158. (a) The purpose of the invention is to bring to the attention of the recipient the contents of a document that he is required to be aware of, and with regard to the first statement of claims submitted – also to apply the court's authority to the defendant.

(b) The recipient shall be deemed to know the contents of a document if it has been served on him under these regulations.

That is, according to this regulation, serving a statement of claim on the defendant not only brings the document to his attention but also applies the court's jurisdiction over the defendant.

Ways to serve a claim

Regulations Civil procedure Specifies the ways in which a claim can be served.

Delivery of a claim via Israel Post

Regulation 161(3) states as follows:

(3) Service by mail – Service of a document by mail shall be by sending it by registered mail with a certificate of delivery to the address specified by the recipient in the title of his pleadings or for his benefit; if it is not possible to provide as stated – to the address known to the sender of the recipient's residence or business; the date of delivery specified in the confirmation of delivery shall be deemed to be the date of service; a document that was served in order for the recipient to have specified in the title of his pleadings and was not requested, shall be deemed to have been served lawfully, unless the court orders otherwise;

Pay attention – It is not enough to send a copy of the claim by regular mail; it must be registered mail with confirmation of delivery. In order to deliver a claim, it must be sent to the defendant's residential address as updated by the Ministry of the Interior (the address can be found on the Population Authority website). Another option is to deliver the claim to the defendant's place of business.

This is how it looks Israel Post delivery confirmation:

Delivery of a claim in person or by courier

My advice to every plaintiff is to never serve a claim in person (by the plaintiff himself or his family members). It is always advisable to use the services of a courier who will sign an affidavit of delivery (an affidavit detailing the methods or dates of delivery, including who actually received the claim).

Regulation 161(4) states as follows:

(4) Invention by personal delivery –

(a) Service shall be by delivery of the document to the recipient, who shall be required to confirm receipt in writing, and shall be effected by a lawyer or a person authorized by the court or the court administrator to do so; the date specified in the notice of verification of delivery shall be deemed to be the date of service;

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subregulation (a), a document shall be deemed to have been lawfully served if it was placed in a visible place near the door of the recipient's home or business when one of the following occurs:

(1) The recipient refused to accept the document or refused to acknowledge receipt in writing;

(2) No person was found to whom the document could be served under these regulations, even though the sender acted with due and reasonable diligence to deliver it.

Pay attention – The defendant will not always agree to accept the claim or sign the confirmation of delivery. From your perspective, this is not a problem, because Rule 161(4) explicitly states that the claim can be placed in a visible place (near the door of the defendant's house, and of course, photographed) in the event that the defendant refuses to accept the claim. If the defendant refuses to sign the confirmation of delivery, the courier will have to specify this in the confirmation of delivery and in the affidavit of delivery on his behalf.

This is what a proper delivery confirmation looks like:

מסירת כתב תביעה לא יכולה להתבצע בדוא"ל או וואטסאפ (למעט חריגים)

The Civil Procedure Regulations explicitly state that a claim cannot be filed electronically. The matter is regulated under Regulation 162(1), which states as follows:

162. An invention by electronic means shall not apply in the following cases:

(1) If this is the first document submitted in a case or a statement of claim, it will be served on a recipient other than the court by mail or by personal delivery, unless there was other written consent from the recipient;

יחד עם זאת, קיימים מקרים בהם מדובר בנתבעים מתוכמים במיוחד אשר מודעים להוראות תקנות סדר הדין האזרחי ומתחמקים בכל דרך אפשרית מהאפשרות למסור להם כתב תביעה. במקרים אלה אפשר לפנות לבית המשפט ולבקש לבצע מסירת כתב תביעה באמצעות דוא"ל או וואטסאפ (תחליף המצאה).

כך לדוגמה נקבע בתא"ק 20708-02-20 שני יעקב בארד נ' אנטולי דרלוק (פסק די מיום 12.8.2020):

תכליתו של תחליף ההמצאה היא להביא לידיעת הנתבע את דבר קיומה של התביעה נגדו, כדי שתהא לו האפשרות להגיש כתב הגנה ולהופיע בבית המשפט (בש"א 7783/15 Lavie Yeshayahu v. Land Registrar [Published in Nevo] [26.11.2015]; Yoel Zussman, Civil Procedure [מהד' שביעית, 1995], בעמ' 253). משמע, תחליף ההמצאה נועד לשרת את "מבחן הידיעה" ולא את "מבחן ההמצאה", משום שההנחה היא שתחליף כזה יאושר מקום שבו ממילא המצאה בפועל אינה אפשרית, ולכן בלית ברירה יש להסתפק בהבאת דבר קיומה של התביעה לידיעתו של הנתבע (ע"ר (כלכלית) 36261-06-20 Jonathan Wolf Abramczyk v. Dan Vaknin [Published in Nevo] [02.08.2020], below: The Abramcik affair).

על רקע תכלית זו של תחליף ההמצאה נפסק, כי לבית המשפט נתון שיקול דעת רחב בבואו לקבוע מהי אותה "כל דרך אחרת" לשם ביצוע תחליף ההמצאה (רע"א 4171/13 חיים נתנאל בע"מ נ' DIESEL S.P.Aחברה רשומה באיטליה [פורסם בנבו] [31.12.2013]). נפסק, כי אין "רשימה סגורה" של תחליפי ההמצאה, וניתן לקבוע כל "דרך אחרת" אשר עשויה להיות יעילה (ת"א (מחוזי ירושלים) 71655-09-16 Y. H. N. C. P. et al. [Published in Nevo] [28.11.2017], that is, a way that will increase as much as possible the chance that the defendant will know about the proceedings filed against him.

In recent years, in light of the development in electronic-Internet communication and the transition to using this communication as the primary means of communication, the use of this method should not be ruled out for the purpose of serving legal documents, as an alternative method, where it has been clarified that delivery cannot be carried out using any of the methods of service stipulated in the regulations.

…

אעיר, כי האפשרות לאשר תחליף המצאה באמצעות דוא"ל, ובדומה, גם באמצעות הוואטסאפ, מבוססת בין השאר על קיומה, על פי רוב, של היכולת לוודא האם הודעת הדוא"ל או הוואטסאפ התקבלו אצל הנמען: במקרה של דוא"ל – על ידי שימוש בכלי מעקב שונים לתיעוד המסירה והקריאה (כגון התוסָף Mailtrack בחשבונות הדוא"ל של Gmail, או בקשת אישור מסירה ו/או אישור קריאה בתוכנת ה – Outlook), ובמקרה של וואטסאפ – על ידי קבלת אישור קריאה (שני סימני "וי" תכולים), אלא אם כן בחר הנמען לבטל אפשרות זו באפליקציה שלו.

Therefore, I grant the request and order the service of the statement of claim and the summons to appear on the respondents by way of substitute discovery in the following two ways, cumulatively:

א. שליחה לכתובת הדוא"ל של משיב מס' 1, ממנה נערכה תכתובת בין הצדדים.

B. Sending as a WhatsApp message to the respondents' telephone numbers, from which correspondence was conducted between the parties.

A tracking tool must be used to document the delivery and reading of the message so that it can be displayed later.

In conclusion

Delivery of a claim after filing a claim with the Magistrate's or District Court must be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Procedure Regulations. Sending a claim by regular mail, without confirmation of delivery, will not be considered as lawful delivery, and the plaintiff will not be able to demand receipt. Judgment in the absence of a defense.

Delivery of a claim can be made by registered mail with delivery confirmation or by a courier on your behalf who will deliver an affidavit of delivery after delivery of the claim.

במקרים חריגים, ניתן לבקש מבית המשפט לתבצע תחליף המצאה ולשלוח את כתב התביעה באמצעות דוא"ל ו/או וואטסאפ, ולהציג לבית המשפט אסמכתאות לכך שכתב התביעה נשלח באמצעים אלה.

Frequently asked questions regarding the delivery of a claim