If I lose my Israeli court case from Canada, what costs will I be ordered to pay?

Canadian clients tend to price an Israeli claim by asking what their own lawyer will charge. That is the smaller half of the exposure. The larger half is what a Tel Aviv or Haifa court will order you to pay the other side if the claim fails, plus the deposit you may have to lodge before the case even gets moving because you live in Ontario rather than Israel.

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Detailed Answer

Costs in Israeli civil litigation are governed by Chapter 21 of the Civil Procedure Regulations 5779-2018. Regulation 151 states the purpose, which is to compensate the other party for its expenses in the proceedings while balancing access to the courts against the protection of property rights, and that framing matters because it is the reason Israeli costs awards are compensatory rather than punitive and are usually well below a full indemnity. Regulation 152 provides that on the conclusion of proceedings the court shall award reasonable and fair costs unless it finds special circumstances warranting otherwise, so an award is the default rather than something the winner must ask for. Regulation 153 tells the court how to fix the amount: it weighs the value of the claim, the complexity of the case and the expenses actually incurred, and the attorney fee component is not ordinarily set below the Israel Bar Association's recommended minimum tariff unless the court gives special reasons. Later regulations in the same chapter deal with costs in default judgments, with proving disbursements, with the party who has needlessly lengthened proceedings, and with security for costs. Two components sit alongside each other in the final order: the court fee and disbursements you have actually laid out, which is why an unsuccessful defendant reimburses a winning claimant's filing fee, and the fee element the court sets.

The Canadian dimension shows up before judgment, not after it. Because a costs order against someone with no assets in Israel is difficult to enforce, Israeli defendants routinely apply for security for costs against a foreign claimant, and courts grant it far more readily where the claimant resides outside the jurisdiction and holds nothing here. That is a cash deposit or a bank guarantee lodged with the court at the start, and the claim is stayed and can be dismissed if it is not put up. Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec have no reciprocal arrangement with Israel that removes this, and Canadian residency is itself the trigger, not any doubt about your good faith. If you do lose and a costs order is made against you, the winner can take it home: an Israeli judgment is enforceable in a Canadian province through the ordinary common-law route for recognising foreign money judgments, so treating an Israeli costs award as an abstract risk that stops at Ben Gurion is a mistake. One genuine point in a foreign claimant's favour is that Israeli awards are modest by Canadian standards, because the tariff anchors them and the courts explicitly weigh access to justice, so the figures rarely reach the eye-watering levels a Canadian litigant might fear from an English-style costs regime.

In Practice: Under Regulation 152 of the Civil Procedure Regulations 5779-2018 an Israeli court awards reasonable and fair costs to the successful party at the conclusion of the proceedings unless special circumstances justify otherwise, and Regulation 153 sets the amount by reference to the value of the claim, its complexity and the expenses actually incurred, with the attorney fee not ordinarily below the Israel Bar Association's recommended minimum tariff. The court fee itself, at 2.5% of the sum in dispute in the District Court under the Courts Regulations (Fees) 5767-2007, is recoverable as a disbursement by whoever wins. A defendant's application for security for costs against a Canadian claimant is typically decided within 4 to 8 weeks of the defence being filed, and the claim is stayed until the deposit is lodged.

When to Consult a Lawyer

• You are deciding whether to sue in Israel at all. The security-for-costs deposit is a real cash-flow event at the start of the case, and it should be budgeted alongside the court fee before the claim is drafted, not treated as a later contingency.
• The other side is dragging the case out. The costs chapter specifically addresses the party who needlessly extends proceedings, and applying for costs at the interim stage rather than saving everything for judgment is often the only way a foreign claimant keeps the pressure on.
• You settled or discontinued rather than lost. Costs still follow, but the court's discretion is at its widest here and the terms of the discontinuance can shape or eliminate the order. Our answer on recovering the Israeli court fee when a case settles deals with the fee side of the same moment.

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Speak With an Israeli Attorney

The realistic question is not whether an Israeli court will make a costs order but how large it will be and what you must deposit up front as a Canadian resident, and both are answerable before you file.

Contact us for a confidential initial consultation.