Involved in an accident, became addicted to cannabis — and will receive 500 thousand shekels

A young man who was involved in a car accident will be compensated by his insurer, "Phoenix Insurance Company," with approximately 550 thousand shekels — this was recently determined by the Magistrate's Court in Herzliya. Senior Judge Limor Reich determined that the damages caused to him, including PTSD and an addiction to cannabis, will have an impact on his functioning and his earning capacity.

The accident occurred at the end of 2021, while the young man was an IDF soldier. He filed the lawsuit against the insurance company in March 2023, and there was no dispute between the parties regarding the fundamental liability of Phoenix, but only regarding the amount of damages. The insurance company, through attorney Ziv Mendelovich, argued that the recognized medical disability — about 19% in the fields of neurology, orthopedics, psychiatry, and the development of PTSD — has no functional significance. Conversely, the plaintiff, through attorney Elad Giovani, argued that his functional disability is higher than the medical one and stands at 25%.

He said that although he has started working in real estate in the meantime, due to his medical condition as a result of the accident, he has difficulty maintaining consistency and is absent often. He shared that since the accident, he has suffered from severe back pain and has been forced to take cannabis since painkillers did not help him. According to him, he has difficulty standing for long periods and engaging in sports activities, suffers from a lack of concentration and migraines, and has developed a fear of returning to driving, which is why he refused to return to his role in the IDF as a driver and was released early. He added that due to the difficulties in standing, he was also unable to maintain work as a security guard in clubs.

Judge Reich adopted the conclusions of the experts on behalf of the court and determined that due to the car accident, the young man suffered a weighted medical disability of 18.77%. Although she rejected his request to set his functional disability at a higher rate, she also pushed back against the claim by "Phoenix" that his medical disability is devoid of any functional significance. She reasoned that considering his young age at the time of the accident (19.5) and today (24), and since these are cumulative disabilities, the reasonable assumption is that this will still affect his ability to work, and therefore she found it appropriate to award him compensation for loss of future earnings. In addition, he was awarded sums for medical expenses in the past and future, including for medical cannabis.

At this point, it was noted that the plaintiff is dealing with an addiction to cannabis. It was noted that although he received a license for only 20 grams, in practice he purchased more privately through family members who receive licenses — meaning it is an addiction in every sense, and the plaintiff has not yet turned to rehabilitation. Another hurdle the plaintiff encountered in this context was a position paper from the Ministry of Health stating that cannabis should not be given to PTSD patients. However, in the end, the judge recognized the plaintiff's fundamental need for cannabis, against the background of a psychiatric expert's opposition to the position paper. The expert explained in his testimony that "there are arguments about the effectiveness, but those years when the patient or the injured person did not sleep and suffered from nightmares, and this (cannabis) is currently the only thing we have to give." The fact that the Ministry of Defense and the HMOs still provide prescriptions for cannabis to this day was also credited in favor of the lawsuit.

In summary, the young man was awarded 548,717 shekels for the damages of the accident, plus legal expenses and attorney's fees.

• To read the full court ruling — click here

• The article is in collaboration with the Israeli legal website PsakDin

• Plaintiff's counsel: Adv. Elad Giovani

• Defendant's counsel: Adv. Ziv Mendelovich

• Ynet is a partner of the PsakDin website