Dear Colleague,
We set out below for your information a short summary of recent aviation law-related judgment rendered by the Israeli court, concerning the application of European Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004 ("the EUR") to claims filed by passengers in the Israeli Small Claims Court, which could be of interest to you:
Small Claim no. 60510-07-17, Dalia Karni at. el. v. El Al Israel Airlines Ltd et al in the Haifa Small Claims Court [1]
The plaintiff's return flight to Israel from Sofia (Bulgaria) was delayed for just less than 6 hours, without the plaintiffs having been notified in advance of the delay. Part of the waiting period was spent by the plaintiffs in the airport terminal, without them having been offered or received any ground assistance. Further, by the time the plaintiff’s flight had landed in Israel, the trains had already stopped working for the day, forcing the plaintiffs to take a taxi, and bear the associated taxi fare, in order to get home.
Because the Israeli Aviation Services Law (Compensation and Assistance for Cancellation of Flight or Changes in its Conditions), 2012 ("the ASL") does not award compensation for flight delays under eight hours, the plaintiffs claimed in the Statement of Claim, inter alia, their entitlement to receive compensation under the EUR, which grants passengers in similar circumstances as those encountered by the plaintiffs, the right to seek compensation if their flight is delayed for over three hours.
The Court Judgment:
The Court rejected the plaintiff's claim regarding the applicability of the EUR, stating that because the ASL was enacted after the EUR, and as the Israeli legislator elected to exclude a passenger’s right to receive compensation for flight delays under eight hours, there can be no doubt that the ASL intentionally restricts a passenger’s rights to compensation, which cannot be circumvented by applying the EUR.
Though decisions of the Small Claims Courts do not constitute binding precedents or guiding ruling, because the vast majority of claims under the ASL are filed with the Small Claim Courts, such decisions could possibly indicate a potential trend or prevailing opinion among the Small Claims Courts’ judges. It will be interesting to see if other judges in the Small Claims Courts will follow suite and whether the District Court would comment on this ruling in the framework of the appeal filed by the travel agent.
If you have any questions or require further information on these judgements or the topics central to them, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Yours sincerely,
Hugh Kowarsky, Adv. Eyal Doron, Adv.
S. Horowitz & Co.
[1] An application seeking leave to appeal was filed with the Haifa District Court by the travel agent from whom the plaintiffs purchased their flight tickets, after the Court divided the compensation due to the plaintiffs between them and the aircraft carrier (R.C.A. 31258-02-18 Nesiot Vetayarut Sviv Kol Haolam Ltd v. El Al Israel Airlines Ltd.
