A child who was pushed and his head hit the corner of a table during lunch will win hundreds of thousands of shekels, after a fierce legal battle.
The lawsuit on his behalf was filed by his parents, through attorney Ido Penn.
The lawsuit was filed against the Menorah insurance company, which insured the Netanya Community Center Company, within the framework of which the afternoon session was operated, and against the Ayalon insurance company, which insured the child with student insurance on behalf of the Ministry of Education.
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According to the lawsuit, the accident occurred after the plaintiff was pushed by one of the children at lunchtime, and his head hit the corner of a nearby table. Immediately after the incident, the child was rushed to Laniado Hospital in Netanya, where he was hospitalized with serious injuries to his forehead and left cheek.
According to his parents, after his release from the hospital, their son's behavior changed dramatically. He began to show fears, developed sleep disorders, began wetting the bed again even though he had already stopped doing so in the past, and began to suffer from bouts of crying and frustration.
In addition, the child suddenly began to suffer from "lazy eye" and strabismus, which were corrected, among other things, by fitting glasses. This, it is claimed, caused damage to his social status. After the accident, his educators began to report that his academic and social status had worsened, and that he had become restless, had difficulty concentrating, was disruptive in class, and had a tendency to outbursts of anger and frustration.
In their distress, the parents turned to lawyer Ido Penn, who specializes in exercising the medical rights of children and teenagers, who filed a lawsuit on their behalf against the insurance companies for the minor's appropriate compensation.
According to the lawsuit, the community center company was negligent in managing the afternoon session, failing to take measures to prevent violent behavior among the children. In addition, it was alleged that the company did not sufficiently ensure a safe environment, and did not prevent the kindergarten children from being exposed to sharp and dangerous objects such as inappropriate table corners.
A medical report submitted as part of the parents' lawsuit determined that due to the accident, their child began to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which affects all aspects of his functioning. The expert on behalf of the lawsuit assessed his permanent disability at 10% according to the National Insurance Institute regulations.
The defendant insurance companies demanded that the child be examined, and he was sent for examination by a medical expert on their behalf, many years after the accident.
A medical report submitted by the defense stated that the boy, who was already 14 at the time, dressed and behaved like other children his age, but suffered from significant attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, typical of many children his age. According to the expert, there were no signs of PTSD. At the conclusion of his report, the expert estimated that the boy's mental disability currently stands at only five percent.
Despite the defense's expert opinion, the insurance companies continued to claim that the child had fully recovered from the injury, and that the attention and concentration disorders attributed to him did not stem from the incident. It was further argued that to the extent that the child suffered from emotional disorders, they originated, according to the defense, in early tendencies or difficulties unrelated to the accident.
The lawsuit and defense brief were presented before Judge Yossi Barchia of the Herzliya Magistrate's Court.
After reviewing the parties' positions, the judge proposed a compromise arrangement whereby the defendant insurance companies would compensate the child and his parents, without having to enter into the full dispute regarding the causal relationship between the fall and the disorders from which the child suffers.
As part of his settlement proposal, the judge proposed that the amount of compensation would be 210,000 shekels, including legal costs and VAT. The parties accepted his proposal.
The compensation was conditional on the full settlement of any future claims on behalf of the child and his family against the Community Center Society and the insurance companies, without the companies admitting their liability.
It was further determined that the payment would be deposited into an account in the child's name, which would be used by him when he reached the age of majority, while his parents were required to provide the court with proof of opening the account to ensure that the funds would be held in his favor. In addition, the court ordered an exemption from paying the remaining fee, in accordance with the regulations, thus concluding the procedure definitively.
According to attorney Ido Penn, who represented the child's parents, the compromise agreed upon between the parties proves that it is certainly possible to receive compensation even for psychological damage that subsided over time, but the estimated damage affected the child's future, and likely harmed the rest of his life.
""In this case, we waged a fierce battle against the insurance companies, who sought to reduce the severity of the injury, but ultimately a compromise was reached that adequately reflected the harm to the minor.""
