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COURT PROCEDURES The Beit Din of Mishpat VaHalacha BeYisrael
A. Composition of the Beit Din
1. The Beit Din shall hear all matters before a panel of three, unless all litigants have requested that their matter be adjudicated before a single Dayan, in accordance with the provisions of Section B.
2. The panel shall be presided over by the person designated in that capacity by the Presidium of the Beit Din.
3. The head of the panel shall be authorized to adjudicate by himself on applications for interim orders, temporary orders, and other interim decisions, as well as in administrative and procedural matters; he may also authorize another member of the Beit Din to adjudicate such matters.
4. A Dayan’s decision to recuse himself or to terminate his adjudication of a particular matter, requires the confirmation of one of the members of the Presidium of the Beit Din.
5. A Dayan’s decision as stated, where occasioned by a halachically defined familial connection, does not require confirmation.
B. A Single Dayan
The litigants are permitted to file a joint application requesting that their matter be adjudicated by a single Dayan. The application shall be filed with the Presidium of the Beit Din, for its decision. Where the Beit Din Presidium decides to approve the application, a single Dayan who shall be appointed by the Presidium of the Beit Din shall adjudicate the matter.
In such a case, all of the powers vested in the “panel of three” (i.e. a Beit Din consisting of three Dayanim) shall vest in the single Dayan, who will be appointed by the Presidium of the Beit Din.
C. Filing a Claim
1. Any statement of claim shall be filed with the secretariat of the Beit Din in three copies, with an additional copy for each of the defendants.
2. The statement of claim shall include:
2.1 The plaintiff’s full name, identity number, and in the case of a corporation - its registration number; the plaintiff’s address, including zip code, telephone numbers – permanent and mobile, and fax and e-mail address.
2.2. The defendant’s full name, identity number, and in the case of an corporation - its registration number; the plaintiff’s address, including zip code, telephone numbers – permanent and mobile, and fax and e-mail address if known to the plaintiff.
2.3 Specification of facts constituting the grounds for the claim, together with documentation supporting the plaintiff’s version.
2.4 The remedy requested, and if the claim is for monetary payment, the sum requested must be indicated, together with the method of its calculation.
2.5 The plaintiff may include a number of claims, within the same statement of claim, each of them relying on separate and distinct grounds, provided that they relate to the same defendants, or some of them.
3. The statement of claim shall be signed by the plaintiff, or by his representative provided that a power of attorney was appended to the statement of claim.
4. To the statement of claim there shall be appended the payment of a quarter of a percent (0.25%) of the sum demanded or of the value of the claim, whichever the higher of the two. The minimal payment for opening a file is NIS 500.
D. Summons
1. The secretariat of the Beit Din shall accept the statement of claim from the plaintiff, shall record the date of its receipt on the statement of claim, and shall give the file a serial number.
2. a. The secretariat of the Beit Din shall send a copy of the statement of claim to the defendant, together with its appendices, as well as a summons for the date determined, in accordance with the appended form.
b. The secretariat of the Beit Din shall send the statement of claim, together with its appendices, to the defendant, in one of the two following ways: by registered mail together with a confirmation of delivery, or by personal delivery by a courier with a confirmation of delivery.
3. The defendant must submit a statement of defense within 30 days of receiving the statement of claim.
4. The statement of defense shall relate to each of the sections in the statement of claim, and shall detail the defendant’s version as it relates to the facts alleged by the plaintiff. The defendant shall append to the statement of defense the documents supporting his version.
5. The defendant is entitled to append a counter claim to his statement of defense, even if the counter claim stems from a different set of facts, or from facts other than those specified in the statement of claim.
6. The Beit Din is permitted to decide that the counter claim will be adjudicated in a separate proceeding, should it deem that joining the matters will inhibit the clarification of the plaintiff’s claim.
7. Any summons (after the sending of the statement of claim) and any decision of the Beit Din shall be sent to the parties concerned in one of the ways specified in section 2b, or in any other way deemed fit by the Beit Din, including inter alia, by fax and electronic mail.
E. Signing an Arbitration Agreement
1. In the first arbitration session, the Beit Din will ascertain whether an Arbitration Agreement was signed. Any change in the wording of the Arbitration Agreement that was introduced with the agreement of the parties, must be confirmed by the Beit Din.
2. Where the parties stipulated in advance that the Beit Din would be the consensual arbitrator, and did not sign a detailed arbitration agreement, the Beit Din will rule on the dispute in the manner it deems most just and speedy for its resolution, and will rule on the basis of the material before it. The Beit Din will not be bound by the substantive law, the laws of evidence, the substantive procedures, or the dates prescribed in the Arbitration Law, and it shall be exempt from having to give its reasons for its ruling.
F. The Litigation Proceeding
1. The Chairman of the Beit Din panel is charged with the conduct of the litigation and the maintenance of order and discipline during the litigation.
2. The litigation shall be conducted according to the following procedure:
2.1 The claims of the plaintiff and of the defendant.
2.2 Testimonies and evidence, initially of the plaintiff and thereafter of the defendant.
2.3 Summations of the litigants’ claims orally or in writing, according to the Beit Din’s decision.
3. The litigation proceeding and the statements of the litigants and the witnesses shall be recorded in the protocol by one of the Dayanim of the panel, or in another manner as determined by the Beit Din.
4. After completion of the oral litigation, the Beit Din may receive from the litigants, either by its own request or by request of the litigants, written clarifications and supplements of proofs or claims, and the Beit Din may use such material while forming its decision.
Copies of both the Beit Din’s requests for clarification, etc., as well as of the litigants’ responses will be sent to the opposite party (parties), as well, and the latter will be granted the opportunity of responding in writing, within a reasonable time limit.
The Beit Din will decide whether additional oral sessions of litigation in the presence of the parties are warranted or necessary.
5. Upon the termination of the litigation, the Beit Din will give instructions regarding summations of the pleadings, with the plaintiff summing up first, to be followed by the defendant.
6. When the litigation begins the plaintiff must pay an additional half percent (0.5%) of the sum demanded, or of the value of the claim, whichever the higher of the two.
G. The Ruling
1. Any ruling must contain:
1.1 A summary of the gist of the litigants’ claims.
1.2 The factual determinations that are important for the judgment.
1.3 The reasons for the decision.
1.4 The Beit Din’s decision.
1.5 A decision regarding which party bears the costs of the trial, the fees of representation and their respective amounts.
2. The provisions of sections 1.1,1.2, and 1.3 shall not apply in cases in which the litigants exempted the Beit Din from its obligation to stipulate its reasons for its ruling.
3. Any decision or ruling shall be signed by all of the Dayanim who sat in the panel. Where a decision or ruling was reached based on a majority opinion, this fact shall be indicated in the decision or ruling.
4. The Beit Din shall inform the litigants of the date for the giving of the ruling, unless having decided to send them the judgment by registered mail with a confirmation of delivery.
H. Temporary Remedies
1. Application for a Temporary Remedy before Parties’ Signature on Arbitration Agreement
As long as not all of the litigants have signed an arbitration agreement, the Beit Din shall not hear applications for granting a temporary remedy against a litigant who has not signed the arbitration Agreement..
2. Application for Temporary Measure after Litigants’ Signature on Arbitration Agreement
(a) Where the parties have signed an Arbitration Agreement, and an application for a temporary measure is filed, the Beit Din is permitted to grant the temporary measure requested, if persuaded of the need to grant the measure in order to prevent damage to the applicant.
(b) The Beit Din is permitted to grant any temporary measure required to ensure compliance with its ruling, concurrently with giving the ruling or thereafter. An application for a temporary measure may be oral.
3. Adjudication of the Application
(a) An application for the granting of a temporary remedy shall be adjudicated in the presence of both parties, however, the Beit Din may grant the order ex parte [in the presence of one party only] if persuaded on the basis of prima facie reliable evidence that there is a reasonable chance that the delay involved in conducting the adjudication in the presence of both parties will frustrate the granting of the order or will cause severe damage to the applicant.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-regulation (a), applications for a temporary lien order, or an order restricting the use of an asset will be adjudicated ex parte, unless the Beit Din is persuaded that the adjudication of the proceedings in the presence of both parties will not frustrate the granting of the order.
4. Ex parte Order
(a) Where an order was granted ex parte, the Beit Din shall conduct a hearing in the presence of the parties at the earliest possible time.
(b) A copy of the order, the application, and the documents appended to it, shall be served to the respondent by the applicant, by personal delivery, within three days, unless the Beit Din specified a later date for special reasons that shall be recorded. At the possessor’s request, the Beit Din shall instruct the applicant to serve the possessor a copy of the order, the application and its appendices at the earliest possible time.
5. Application to the Competent Court
In any case in which performance of the temporary order involves the activation of a third party, including, inter alia, a private person, an empowered governmental authority, etc, the applicant shall present the temporary order to the competent court, pursuant to section 16 (a) (5) of the Arbitration Law, 5728-1968.
6. Reconsideration
(1) The Beit Din is at all times permitted to reconsider any temporary order that it granted, should it consider it justified by reason of changed circumstances or new facts that emerged after the granting of the order, or if it deemed that there was insufficient justification for granting the order in the first place.
(2) In the process of reconsideration, the Beit Din may maintain, change, or cancel the decision forming the subject of reconsideration, or give another decision in its place. Inter alia, the Beit Din is authorized to order that if the respondent deposits a guarantee, or produces a sufficient security to ensure the performance of the judgment, the temporary order will expire.
7. Expiry of Temporary Order
The temporary order will expire –
(1) Upon the withdrawal of the claim, upon the fulfillment of the arbitration ruling, or at the end of the time prescribed therefore, whichever the earlier;
(2) If the temporary order was granted ex parte, apart from in the case of a temporary restraining order, and was not served to the respondent by personal delivery as specified in regulation 4 (b), unless the Beit Din ordered otherwise, for special reasons that shall be recorded.
(3) Upon its cancellation by the Beit Din, whether concurrently with the arbitration ruling, or before such time or thereafter.
8. Sanctions
Where a party breaches the provisions of a temporary order for reasons dependent upon him, the Beit Din may, at the request of the other party, adopt one or more of the following measures:
(a) Obligate the party in breach to pay expenses to the other party.
(b) To dismiss the claim, if the party in breach is the plaintiff; to accept the claim, without the defense of the defendant, if the party in breach is the defendant.
I. Appeal
1. The parties have a right to appeal a judgment or a decision of the Beit Din persuant to these regulations, unless they waived that right by written consent, or by oral consent that shall be recorded in the protocol by the Beit Din.
2. (a) The judgment of the Beit Din may only be appealed after receiving leave from one of the members of the Presidium of the Beit Din.
(b) The Beit Din for appeal shall comprise one of the members of the Presidium and two additional Dayanim, who shall be determined by the Presidium of the Beit Din.
3. An appeal may only be based on one of the following grounds:
(a) A mistake in the halakhah.
(b) An obvious mistake in discretion or in determination of facts.
(c) A substantial defect in the conduct of the litigation that influences the results of the litigation.
4. An appeal may not be based on circumstances that arose after the termination of the litigation, or based on evidence or facts that were not presented to the Beit Din that ruled on the matter.
5. An appeal cannot be based exclusively on factual pleadings.
6. No appeal can be filed against a temporary judgment or interim decision unless leave is given by the two Chief Presiding Dayanim for special reasons that shall be recorded.
7. (a) An application for granting leave to appeal, pursuant to section 3, shall be filed within thirty days of the giving of judgment. Where one of the parties was not summoned to hear the judgment, the application shall be filed within thirty days of the judgment having been served to him.
(b) An application for granting leave to appeal, pursuant to section 6, shall be filed within seven days of the giving of the temporary judgment or the interim decision.
8. The application for leave to appeal shall be filed in writing, in which the applicant shall specify the halakhic reasons which he regards as being sufficient to warrant the cancellation or changing of judgment forming the subject of the appeal. The decision on the application will be given on basis of the written application only.
9. The decision to approve or to reject the application for appeal need not be accompanied by stated reasons for such decision.
10. Notwithstanding the aforementioned provisions of section 1 above, even if the parties waived the right of appeal, one of the Chief Presiding Dayanim may assent to an application for grant of leave to appeal, if in his view the rule established in the judgment sets new precedent, if its ramifications extend beyond the matter under discussion, or if there was a mistake in halakhah, or an obvious mistake in discretion or a severe result in terms of its consequences.
11. The Beit Din, may, at its own discretion, deviate from the outlined procedure in order to effect a just ruling and a prompt resolution of the dispute.
J. In any matter related to procedure that is not stipulated in these regulations, the Beit Din shall act in accordance with its own discretion for the sake of efficiency of the adjudication and for the sake of justice and law.
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