The minority also recommended the filing of claims against respondents 2-4. With regard to the possibility of collecting money from the Premier League and National League teams for the amount of damage that will remain after the expected collection and the participation of the insurance company and the accounting firm, it was argued that the association has no cause of action against the teams to do so. On the subject of contacting the insurance company, it was claimed that in the absence of a claim, the insurance company would refuse to pay.
- On December 16, 2019, the committee's report was submitted to the court by the Association's attorney, and at the same time it was forwarded to the members of the Association's management for review. At the meeting of the Association's management on January 8, 2020, a decision was passed, by a majority vote (22 in favor, 1 against and no abstentions), adopting the conclusions of the Claims Committee's report.
The Applicants' Objection to the Adoption of the Committee's Conclusions
- On February 3, 2020, the Applicants filed a motion that the derivative claim continue to be clarified, and that the motion for approval be decided on its merits. According to them, weight should not be given to the recommendations of the majority position in the Claims Committee, for several reasons. First, according to them, the way the committee worked and its conclusions had a number of glaring flaws; Second, the discussion of the Association's management in relation to the committee's conclusions was held in an "infected" forum with the active participation of interested parties; ThirdIn any case, the Association's management did not decide to adopt the committee's limited conclusions, contrary to what was claimed in the Association's announcement.
In this context, the Applicants reiterated their objection to the proceeding in which the Claims Committee was established, and in particular the claim that the Committee was established in order to prevent the filing of a lawsuit.
The Association's Announcement Regarding the Implementation of the Conclusions of the Independent Claims Committee
- On July 16, 2020, the Association announced that in light of the Claims Committee's conclusion that the damage to the Association amounted to NIS 5 million, and in accordance with its recommendations, an "agreement in principle" had been reached between the Association, the accounting firm and the insurance company, according to which the latter would transfer a total of NIS 1.7 million to the Association's coffers. In the amount of NIS 3.3 million, spread over six years. These agreements were conditional on the issuance of a judgment rejecting the motion to certify a derivative action, and that the legal proceedings regarding the prohibited transfers would be concluded.
- In their response of August 3, 2020, the Applicants argued that the said decision of the Association does not constitute an implementation of the recommendations of the majority opinion in the Claims Committee. First, with regard to the agreement with the accounting firm and the insurance company, it was claimed that the association did not attach any evidence of the existence of such an agreement, and admitted that it did not have a signed agreement. SecondWith regard to the decision to cover the deficit by the Premier League and National League teams, the Applicants argued that the Association did not attach a reference to the teams' agreement to pay the said amount, and did not show a source of its authority to obligate them to pay in the absence of consent. Third, the six-year payment is also problematic, due to the fact that teams move up and down leagues, the fact that this is an outline according to which the implementation of the committee's conclusions includes a postponement for many years, and the fact that the chances of collecting these funds over such a long period of time are questionable. This is especially true in light of the coronavirus crisis, in light of which the association has even frozen the collection of "hypocritical" and "non-hypocritical" funds.
The association responded on August 14, 2020. First, she argued, with regard to the Applicants' claim regarding the agreements with the accounting firm and the insurance company, that the parties are close to completing the documents required for the matter. Second, with regard to the claim that the teams did not agree to the payment of NIS 3.3 million, it was argued that such consent was not required. According to the association, these are not sums that the association demands from the teams in the framework of debt collection or restitution claims, but rather a new charge that the association has seen fit to impose on teams that participate (and will participate in the future) in the Premier League and the National League.