A small claims court in Beersheva ruled this week that Israel Railways will pay NIS 500 compensation to a passenger for mental anguish arising from overcrowding and unreasonable conditions during a journey.
Just recently, a class action suit against the railway for delays was dismissed on the grounds that the railway is a not-for-profit, public entity, and therefore it cannot be sued in this fashion. However, the small claims court in Beersheva decided otherwise and concluded that such a ruling was too lenient towards the railway: "There is a contractual relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant. It is fair and reasonable for a passenger to expect to have a place to sit, that the lavatories should be in order, and that the air conditioning and loudspeaker systems should function properly," ruled retired Judge Ruthi Bahat.
The suit was filed by a passenger who claims that his trip on the train during the Succot holiday was extremely crowded. He claims that passengers sat in the aisles, on the tables, and on the floor; a few people took up two seats, the lavatories were all locked, and the air conditioning was not operating. The plaintiff complained to the railway management and was offered two free tickets as compensation.
The railway claimed in its defense that it is a government entity, fully owned by the State of Israel, but the court overruled this argument, saying that this was no bar to a suit being brought against it. The railway claimed that it was operating under a special schedule in order to ease the holiday crowding: "The railway is not a private carrier, but a public one and the public's well-being, efficiency considerations, the public's dependence, level of service and infrastructure limitations, and distributive justice necessitate allowing passengers to board trains even if they are crowded," the railway claimed.
"It is reasonable for a passenger to expect to have a place to sit and that more tickets than there are seats available won't be sold" the judge ruled, and added: "The plaintiff claims that, despite the fact that the journey took place during the Succot holiday, when it could be known ahead of time that there would be crowding, the train only had six cars. The defendant's representative's claim, that the railway prepared ahead of time for the overcrowding, has not been substantiated," she wrote.
The court ordered the passenger to be compensated in the amount of NIS 500, in addition to legal costs of the same amount.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 1, 2011
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