Lawsuit against Menora Mivtachim: Hundreds of thousands of shekels cut from a bereaved brother
A bereaved brother claims that the insurance company reduced the compensation due to him after his brother's death by hundreds of thousands of shekels. The court is now examining whether the deduction was carried out legally.
The insurance company Menora Mivtachim is at the center of a new legal proceeding after a lawsuit was filed against it in the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court, alleging that it unlawfully deducted hundreds of thousands of shekels from life insurance benefits. The lawsuit was filed by Adv. Ran Shapira on behalf of the brother of a deceased insured person, who serves as the sole beneficiary of the policy.
According to the statement of claim, in 2022, the deceased joined a Menora Mivtachim life insurance policy, under which he signed a health declaration and set an insurance amount of 1 million shekels, linked to the index, for the benefit of his brother. In September 2023, he passed away suddenly, and after the brother applied to receive the insurance benefits, only about 711,000 shekels were transferred to him, instead of the full amount set in the policy.
Menora explained that during the review of the medical file, it turned out that the deceased had suffered from thrombocytosis, a medical condition of high platelet count, even before purchasing the insurance, and that this information was not provided when joining the policy. According to the company, if the information had been known in advance, a insurance premium about 50 percent higher would have been collected from him, and therefore a proportional deduction of the insurance benefits was carried out.
On the other hand, the lawsuit claims that there is no connection between that disease and the cause of the insured's death. It is further claimed that the health declaration form did not include an explicit question regarding the medical condition in question, and therefore it cannot be claimed that the deceased concealed information or acted in bad faith. In addition, the plaintiff claims that the company's decision to reduce the insurance amount was made without a medical or actuarial opinion supporting the calculation method.
According to the lawsuit, the very fact that Menora did not cancel the policy on the grounds of fraud, but chose to pay only part of the benefits, weakens the claim that the insured concealed material information. Because of this, the plaintiff demands the return of the approximately 350,000 shekels that were deducted, along with special interest and legal expenses, claiming bad faith conduct.
The case raises fundamental questions regarding the scope of the disclosure obligation of insured persons when purchasing life insurance. As of the date of filing the lawsuit, a statement of defense on behalf of Menora Mivtachim has not yet been filed.
