After the purchasers had paid a significant portion of the agreed consideration under a sales contract for a second-hand apartment, the sellers became embroiled in divorce proceedings. As a result of the dispute, the wife refused to hand over possession of the property on the agreed date. Despite the husband's attempts to evict the wife from the property, the apartment was finally delivered only after a delay of approximately two years and eviction proceedings.
The Court accepted the claim against both spouses due to a material breach of the agreement and "joint and several" liability. The Israeli Contracts Law defines a material breach as one regarding which it can be assumed that a reasonable person would not have entered into that contract had they foreseen the breach and its consequences, or a breach agreed upon in the contract to be deemed fundamental. A "joint and several" obligation is one in which the creditor is entitled to demand the performance of the obligation from both debtors together or from each of them individually. Here, a delay of nearly two years in delivering the apartment constitutes a material breach entitling the buyers to the liquidated damages stipulated in the agreement. Furthermore, because the sellers committed "jointly and severally" in the agreement, both bear full responsibility for the timely delivery of the apartment. Thus, both are liable for the full compensation, because the divorce dispute or the contention that only the wife delayed the vacation of the property does not exempt the husband from his responsibility toward the purchasers.