| Tel Aviv-Jaffa District Court | |
| Civil Case 58538-05-19 Benz et al. v. Nof et al.
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| Before | The Honorable Judge Gershon Gontovnik
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The Plaintiffs |
1. Michael Benz and 52 others By Attorneys Yitzhak Aharonov and Shlomi Hess |
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Against
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| The Defendants | 1. Adv. Guy Nof
2. Adv. Yoni Aharonson By Adv . Sinai Elias, Carmit Bernstein and Ayelet Vosuki Dolev Sinai Elias & Co. |
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Judgment
Those who walk the paths of the purchasing groups embark on a long and challenging journey. At the end of the day, there is a chance, and along it is a risk. And in our case, the risk has been realized. The plaintiffs aspired to purchase apartments in a promising project in the heart of Ramat Gan, at a relatively low cost. The temptation was great, andthey were impressed by the experience and abilities of the group's organizer - Mrs. Inbal Or.
But the project did not take off. The city's planning authorities changed their policy, and as a result, there was a real difficulty in realizing the vision. The contacts with them have been prolonged. The years passed. In the meantime, Ms. Or became embroiled in criminal charges, and the entire project was thrown into a tailspin. Some of the funds invested by the group members were returned to them following the receivership proceedings of the companies it owned, and the other part was never returned.
In this lawsuit, the plaintiffs, who are part of the class members, aim their arrows not at Ms. Or or the companies with whom they contracted, but at the lawyers who accompanied the group. According to them, these breached a series of duties; Make a series of misrepresentations; and made a series of empty promises; And for all of this, they must compensate them, and return to them that part of their investment that went down the drain.
And the process raises many questions: What are the professional standards that apply to the lawyers accompanying the purchasing groups? What are their characteristics at the stage when the group has not yet been established, and after it has been established? And how should they act when they are under the impression that the group organizer is seeking to receive funds from some of its members before the contractual deadline has arrived? Are there contractual clauses that are valid in any case of conflict between the group members and the group organizer? Should the team's lawyers represent the latter?