Jerusalem Senior Wins 100,000 NIS Compensation from Carrefour Over Truck Noise
An 86-year-old Jerusalem resident won 100,000 NIS in damages from Carrefour Israel after a 12-year legal battle over nighttime supply truck noise disrupting his home.
An 86-year-old resident of Jerusalem, a bereaved father living with his wife on the second floor of a residential building on Reines Street since 1973, has finally secured significant financial compensation from Global Retail Q.I., the franchisee of the Carrefour chain in Israel, which operates a branch on the ground floor of the same building. The legal battle, which spanned various courts for over a decade, concluded with a ruling by the Jerusalem Magistrates Court ordering the chain to pay him 100,000 NIS for non-pecuniary damage, plus 17,000 NIS in legal expenses.
The saga began back in 2018, when the resident petitioned the Jerusalem Municipality seeking to close the supermarket, claiming that supply trucks arrived during nighttime hours, reversed, and disrupted his sleep. A compromise agreement was reached during the proceedings: the chain committed not to unload goods between 20:00 and 7:00, to deploy a guard and a round-the-clock security camera, and to pay 750 NIS to the Alut association for every documented violation, without needing to prove actual damage.
The Legal Debate Over the Business License and Night Deliveries
Later, Carrefour received a permanent business license valid until 2032, with slightly more lenient terms: unloading was banned only before 6:00, rather than 7:00 as stipulated in the compromise agreement. This sparked the central legal dispute: was the original agreement still valid, or did it expire once the permanent license was issued?
The plaintiff argued that even after obtaining the license, Carrefour continued to blatantly violate the conditions, with suppliers arriving late at night. In April 2023, he even secured a temporary injunction prohibiting unloading between 22:30 and 6:00, and subsequently filed four motions under the Contempt of Court Ordinance, claiming the chain repeatedly breached the order.
In a previous ruling on one of the motions, the court criticized the chain's conduct, noting that when it hit the defendant's pocketbook, action toward suppliers was more resolute, but as long as it involved no financial loss, the defendant allowed itself to ignore the rules.
Court Ruling: Substantial Nuisance and Compensation
The Jerusalem Magistrates Court was unimpressed by the defense. It ruled that the chain had no financial incentive to enforce the conditions when it did not directly affect its profits, and that the plaintiff suffered tangible, substantial, and continuous disruption to the reasonable use of his apartment—justifying compensation under the tort of private nuisance pursuant to the Torts Ordinance.
Regarding the compromise agreement itself, the court effectively accepted the chain's position, ruling that the agreement was cancelled when the permanent business license was granted in 2022, since the municipality had already weighed all relevant interests when setting slightly more lenient terms. However, practically speaking, this changed little: after ruling out double compensation under both the agreement and tort law, Judge Orna Sandler-Eitan awarded higher compensation through the tort route: 100,000 NIS, compared to the 99,750 NIS that would have been due under the agreement for 133 recorded violations.
"I wasn't looking for your money, I was looking for the trucks to let us live on the street... Where are your cameras? For 12 years, Your Honor, I haven't slept at night," the plaintiff stated emotionally in court.
In the margins of the ruling, the judge also criticized the municipality. She wrote that it is fitting for the Jerusalem Municipality to act with greater strictness in enforcing the business license conditions on the defendant, so that the plaintiff is not forced to trudge to the civil court time and again.
