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What is a MAHUT meeting and is it mandatory before an Israeli civil lawsuit?

MAHUT stands for meida, heikanut ve'te'um, an information, acquaintance and coordination meeting held with a mediator from the court's list. Under the Courts Regulations (Mediation) 5753-1993, as amended, parties to a civil claim above a monetary threshold must attend one before the case moves on to hearings. The meeting is not mediation. It is a short session in which the mediator explains how mediation would work and the parties then decide whether to try it. Attendance is compulsory, going into mediation afterwards is voluntary, and nothing said at the meeting can be used in the litigation.

The scheme was designed to relieve congestion in the Israeli civil courts by putting settlement on the table before the parties have spent heavily on pleadings and discovery. It applies to civil claims above roughly NIS 75,000 in the Magistrates' and District Courts, and leaves out small claims, family matters and labour disputes, each of which has its own pre-trial mechanism. The court refers the file to a mediator drawn from the list maintained by the Courts Administration, and the parties share a fixed fee for the first session. If either side declines mediation afterwards the file simply returns to the ordinary track, although a party who refuses in obvious bad faith can meet costs consequences later in the case.

Foreign litigants should treat the meeting as an opportunity rather than a formality, because a contested commercial claim in the Israeli civil courts regularly runs for years. Attendance by video is usually possible, but send someone with genuine settlement authority, since courts take a dim view of a representative who has to telephone head office over every figure. Note the interaction with arbitration: if the contract contains an arbitration clause the case should not be in court at all, and the party who wants arbitration must apply for a stay under Section 5 of the Arbitration Law 5728-1968 before filing a defence. What happens if the parties do opt in is set out in the guide to commercial mediation in Israel.

⚖ In Practice
  • Governing law: Courts Regulations (Mediation) 5753-1993, as amended to introduce the MAHUT meeting; Civil Procedure Regulations 5779-2018
  • Competent authority: Magistrates' Court and District Court, referring to mediators on the list held by the Courts Administration (Hanhalat Batei HaMishpat)
  • Threshold: civil claims above approximately NIS 75,000; small claims, family and labour proceedings sit outside the scheme
  • Fee: a low fixed fee for the first meeting set by regulation and split between the parties, with some courts running it at no charge
  • Format: normally a single meeting of about one hour, held within weeks of the referral, and available by video for parties abroad
  • Confidentiality: statements made at the meeting are inadmissible in the litigation and the mediator does not report on the substance to the judge

From the full guide: Mediation in Israeli Courts

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Get a Free Consultation with Adv. Eli ShimonyPrepared under the direction of Adv. Eli Shimony, Eli Shimony Law Office · Editorial policy

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