Filing an appeal against a judgment can be filed by both the plaintiff and the defendant, and the very filing of the appeal indicates that that party is not satisfied with the judgment (side note – a common statement that can be heard from judges is that a good judgment is a judgment in which neither party is satisfied with what is stipulated in it).
It is important to know that filing an appeal is not always a good idea even if you think you have been wronged. It is very important to understand the reasons for the judgment. If the judge based the verdict on reliability findings or factual issues, the appellate court will usually not be in a hurry to intervene and cancel the verdict.
It is very useful to consult with a lawyer who is familiar with the rulings of the courts regarding the acceptance or rejection of appeals, otherwise you may find that you have paid a lot of money for nothing (filing an appeal involves paying fees, a court fee, a bond that may reach tens of thousands of shekels, and there may be additional expenses throughout the procedure ).
Today, in the vast majority of cases, filing an appeal against a judgment must be done in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Procedure Regulations, 2018. You must familiarize yourself with the provisions of these regulations because an appeal filed in violation of these provisions may lead to its rejection.
For your convenience, an example of how to draft an appeal notice or a request for appeal permission is attached .
Appealing a judgment – is this an appeal by right or an appeal by permission?
When they say filing an appeal by right, it means that you do not need to ask permission from the court in order to file the appeal. On the other hand, when we talk about an appeal by permission, we mean that a request for permission to appeal must be submitted and the court must first decide whether it approves the request (that is, the claims of the appeal are not immediately discussed).
An appeal by right is filed at the end of the legal procedure (appeal of a verdict). The appeal can refer to any issue within the procedure, and can refer to a specific decision or several different decisions given throughout the procedure.
An appeal by permission can also be filed during the legal process – on interim decisions (as will be detailed below, not every interim decision can be filed for an appeal authority). Usually, a request for permission to appeal will refer to a specific interim decision .
Sometimes there is a difficulty in classifying the decision – whether it is a partial judgment or another decision. This situation can arise when the court decides on some of the claims already during the legal process and the remaining part continues to be litigated. In such a situation, the litigant does not always know whether he must file an appeal against a judgment of right or a request for leave to appeal.
In this regard, the court's rulings established tests that were designed to help the litigant understand how he should act (if you do not know whether in your case you should file an appeal against a judgment by right or an appeal by permission, it is recommended to consult with a lawyer experienced in filing appeals ) .
Exceptions: This article mainly deals with filing an appeal to the District Court or the Supreme Court, so there may be situations in which you will encounter that do not necessarily correspond to what has been written so far. One of those situations is when a small claims court ruling is appealed .In this case, even though it is a judgment, and not an interim decision, a request for leave to appeal should be submitted to the district court. The tendency is to approve a request for permission to appeal a judgment of the small claims court only in limited cases.
Filing an appeal to the district or supreme court – when?
With the entry into force of the Civil Procedure Regulations 2018, a change was made regarding the deadlines for filing an appeal by right or an appeal by permission. In this regard, Rule 137(a) states as follows:
The deadline for submitting an appeal procedure for a decision is sixty days from the date it was issued.
The Civil Procedure Regulations define "decision" as follows:
"Decision" – judgment, partial judgment and any other decision
That is, even if you wish to file an appeal against a judgment (by right) and even if you wish to file a request for permission to appeal an interim decision – you must do so within 60 days from the date of the decision.
In the past, there was a difference in the dates for filing an appeal by right versus an appeal by permission and situations arose where litigants filed a request for leave to appeal when they should have filed an appeal, and in the opposite cases, filed an appeal by right when they should have filed a request for leave to appeal. The second case was a particularly problematic case because in such a situation the courts would reject the appeal. When the appeal was rejected, the litigant could no longer submit a request for leave to appeal and therefore was unable to appeal the judicial decision with which he was not satisfied.
This situation is now dealt with by Rule 149(4) of the Civil Procedure Regulations, which states:
An application for an appeal authority has been submitted where the applicant may challenge the right, the court may hear the application as an appeal, under the conditions it directs;If an appeal was filed in the place where the appellant had to submit a request for leave to appeal, the court may hear the appeal as a request for leave to appeal and give instructions according to the matter;
Situations in which it is not possible to submit an appeal permission request
There is a list of cases in which it is not possible to submit a request for permission to appeal to the District Court or the Supreme Court, but must wait until the end of the procedure in order to file an appeal. Surprisingly, a significant part of the lawyers are not familiar with these instructions or forget to refer to them, which leads to many appeal procedures that are rejected outright, without asking for the opposing party's response.
The cases in which it is not possible to submit a request for leave to appeal are fixed in the court order (types of decisions in which leave to appeal will not be granted), 2009-569:
- Decision regarding the determination and change of hearing dates and deadlines for submitting applications, responses, pleadings, documents, summaries and affidavits (hereinafter in this order – pleadings);
- A decision on a request to extend the deadline set by legislation, with the exception of a decision that means denying the possibility of starting the procedure;
- decision regarding the scope of pleadings;
- A decision regarding the stages of the hearing in the procedure, with the exception of a decision that the hearing will be heard in splits or that there will be a separate hearing on the counterclaim and notification to a third party ;
- A decision regarding summoning witnesses, the order of hearing witnesses, and questions presented to witnesses, including acceptance or rejection of objections in this regard, with the exception of a decision to postpone a request to summon a witness or submit evidence, or a decision regarding a request for preliminary testimony;
- A decision regarding the order of bringing evidence and the manner of presenting evidence, with the exception of a decision regarding giving evidence outside the walls of the court, including in a visual conference;
- A decision that is the acceptance of a request to cancel a judgment or to cancel a decision;
- A decision regarding the imposition of court costs and attorney's fees and their rate, except if it was given after the judgment was rendered and is not included in it;
- A decision to give permission to defend and accept objection to the execution of a bill or objection to the execution of a claim for a set amount according to section 81a1 of the Enforcement Law, 1967-5777;
- A decision according to Chapter IX of the Civil Procedure Regulations, 1984-7544, with the exception of a decision regarding the disclosure of a certain document, perusal of the documents and regarding the claim of confidentiality.
Filing an appeal against a judgment by a person who is not represented by a lawyer
Even a person who is not represented by a lawyer can file an appeal or a request for permission to appeal (although this is definitely not recommended in light of the fact that most people are not lawyers and are not familiar with the provisions of the law and the relevant rulings in order to file an appeal against a verdict, and therefore the appeal can be rejected for technical reasons).
According to the judicial authority's instructions regarding filing an appeal, an unrepresented person can file an appeal through the court's secretariat.
The Magistrate's Court – an applicant who is not represented by a lawyer may submit the appeal in any of the Magistrate's Courts in the district.
The district court – a filer who is not represented by a lawyer may file the appeal only in the court where the appeal is filed.
Addition of new evidence at the appeal stage
The appeals court is based on the evidence submitted to the court which examined the case on its merits. In the vast majority of cases, the appellate court will not discuss evidence that was not submitted and duly accepted by the trial court. An attempt to "sneak" new evidence in as part of the notice of appeal will in most cases lead to the deletion of that evidence and the charging of the party who did so with court costs.
In order to submit new evidence at the appeal stage, Rule 144 of the Civil Procedure Regulations can be used, which states:
A party may not submit new evidence to the court of appeal;However, the court may allow the submission of new evidence if it is convinced that it may affect the results of the appeal and if one of the following is true:
(1) It was not possible to locate the evidence with reasonable diligence and submit it to the first instance at the appropriate time;
(2) The presentation of the evidence is necessary to prevent a miscarriage of justice.
That is, if you wish to submit new evidence at the appeal stage, you must submit an appropriate request before submitting the actual evidence.
Does filing an appeal against a judgment allow the appellant not to comply with the judgment?
The answer to this is negative. As long as the judgment is not annulled, the party against whom the judgment was given must comply with what is stated in it. An appeal or a request for permission to appeal does not delay the execution of the judgment or the interim decision, and in the event that the litigant does not comply with the provisions of the judgment, the enforcement office can be contacted.
This matter is fixed in Rule 145(a) of the Civil Procedure Regulations, which states as follows:
(a) Filing an appeal will not delay the execution of the appealed decision.
In order to delay the execution of the judgment, a separate application for the delay of the judgment should be submitted . Generally, the court will delay the execution of the judgment if the litigant sees that it will cause him very great damage, that it will not be possible to restore the situation to the way it was before if the judgment is not delayed (for example: if the judgment states that a house must be destroyed, if the judgment is not delayed it is not possible will be to restore the house to its original state if it is destroyed). Also, the litigant must show that there are good chances for his appeal to be accepted.
