Rulings

A judgment of the District Court on applying the protections provided by the Defamation Law upon a claim that was filed on grounds of negligence – the District Court approved the motion to dismiss a claim in limine on behalf of the firm’s client, determining that a claim filed against a client of the firm on grounds of negligence in an expert opinion the client submitted in a lawsuit between Yossi Meiman and Nimrod Novik, should be dismissed since the protections provided by the Defamation Law apply here, even if the cause of action is negligence.

A Supreme Court judgment regarding the rights of a director to review a company’s documents pursuant to section 265(a) of the Companies Law – The court accepted the position of our firm’s client, who is a shareholder of a company and the position of the director he appointed, regarding his director’s right to receive documents and information from the company, while rejecting claims that the right to review should be prevented under the circumstances.

District Court approving a motion to file a class action – the court approved the filing of a class action which our firm represented, in respect of overcharging management fees for securities deposits, on behalf of all customers of the bank who held a securities deposit in the seven years preceding the submission of the motion, and in which the bank overcharged for the fees.

A District Court judgment regarding the violation of a company shareholder’s right of first refusal – the District Court accepted the claim of the firm’s client and determined that his right of first refusal, granted to him by the company bylaws, was indeed violated, and instructed that he retains the right to exercise his right of first refusal.

A Supreme Court judgment known as the Ben Giat precedent – The court accepted the appeal of the firm’s client and overturned the District Court’s verdict by stating that the appellant’s rights to half an apartment should be recognized under the rule of sharing, even though the apartment was not registered in her name, and that in the contest between the appellant’s right under the sharing rule and the respondent’s right by virtue of the mortgage that was registered in its name upon all rights of ownership of the apartment – the appellant had the upper hand. The court based its conclusions, inter alia, upon the fact that the respondent had acted in bad faith expressed by the fact that it had not acted as a professional creditor, did not examine the mortgaged property, or the signature of the appellant, who was the borrower’s wife at the time, upon her consent to register a mortgage on the apartment.

This is a significant verdict that provided guidelines on matters of property, banking and the sharing rule between spouses, and is cited by many later verdicts.

A Supreme Court verdict on the subject of charging a shareholder of a company with all of the company’s debts – the Supreme Court, in an appeal on the District Court’s ruling, authorized the personal liability of the company’s shareholder and manager for the debt towards the company’s main creditor by virtue of section 373 of the Companies Ordinance, and invalidated his personal liability for debts that had not been proven to exist.

A decision dismissing in limine a motion of a receiver to charge a client of the firm with millions of dollars – the District Court dismissed the receiver’s claim against the firm’s client, whereby the bank assigned him the right to claim against the client and that he may settle the claim on behalf of the bank within the framework of a motion for instructions in the receivership case.

A Supreme Court judgment regarding the boundaries of the Supreme Court’s intervention in the Labor Court’s verdicts – the Supreme Court accepted the firm’s client’s position, that the Supreme Court should not intervene in the Labor Courts’ rulings, except in cases of substantive legal error where justice requires intervention.

A judgment of the National Labor Court, cancelling an injunction that prevented the dismissal of the chairman of the Research Institute for Land Policy and Land Use at the JNF, considering the coalition agreements and factional agreements which refer to nominations to the institutes of the World Zionist Organization.