Cyclist Teenager Injured, Changes Version, and Loses 80,000 Shekels
Eight years ago, a high school student was injured while cycling and became disabled. After his claim under the Road Accident Victims Compensation Law was rejected, he sought compensation via personal student accident insurance, but the court dismissed the claim due to inconsistent testimonies.
Eight years ago, a high school student was injured while riding his bicycle in his hometown in the north and became disabled. After his claim under the Road Accident Victims Compensation Law was rejected, he turned to the Ayalon insurance company with a demand for compensation from the personal accident insurance policy for students.
The Haifa Magistrate's Court recently rejected this claim as well, ruling that the youth is bound by the factual version he provided over the years, according to which it was a road accident, and these are excluded from the personal accident insurance policy for students. According to the disability rating determined for him, the compensation, had it been approved, would have been expected to be about 80,000 shekels.
The youth initially claimed that he was injured when he was riding his bicycle and a private car collided with him head-on, and as a result, he suffered severe bodily harm, including mental injuries and hearing impairment. According to him, the purpose of student insurance is to ensure compensation for every student who is injured, and since his claim under the Road Accident Victims Compensation Law was rejected, the exception in the policy that excludes road accidents from coverage should not apply to him. He also claimed that the contradictions in the versions stemmed from the head injury he sustained and the difficulty in remembering the details of the event.
Ayalon argued in response that the policy explicitly excludes road accidents, and that the youth himself repeated time and again — both in the previous claim and in his affidavit and testimony in the current proceeding — the version according to which a vehicle hit him while he was riding his bicycle. Therefore, even if he did not succeed in proving the previous claim, he cannot retroactively change the factual infrastructure to win other insurance coverage.
Judge Sigalit Matza ruled that according to the youth's consistent version, it is a road accident, and therefore the exception in the student insurance policy applies, and there is no entitlement to insurance compensation, regardless of the fact that he did not receive compensation in the previous claim either.
The court ruled that the youth cannot present in one proceeding a version according to which a vehicle hit him, and in another proceeding rely on a different factual version according to which he collided with a parked vehicle. It was determined that these are two completely contradictory versions, both in terms of the manner of the accident and in terms of its location, which are about 400-500 meters apart.
The judge emphasized that the claim of memory loss does not align with his repeated and detailed testimonies, and he cannot abuse legal proceedings by raising contradictory versions that will fit each time into a different judicial framework.
In the end, the claim was rejected in its entirety, but the youth was not ordered to pay legal costs due to the degree of disability from which he suffers and the social purpose of the student insurance policy.
Advocate Barak Avivi, whose firm specializes in bodily injury and accidents, explains: "In the case in question, the student was riding a bicycle and hit a vehicle that was parked legally and without a driver in the vehicle. Therefore, the court ruled that it was not a road accident, as the vehicle was not in motion. After that, the student changed his version and claimed the personal accident policy, but because of the change of version, he violated the principle of 'good faith' and was rejected."
According to him, "In the case of an accident, one must report the truth, and thus in cases of road accidents involving a motor vehicle, one can sue the compulsory insurance of the vehicle. In cases of other accidents, such as falling from a bicycle due to a pothole in the road, one can sue the personal accident policy for students, where the maximum compensation threshold is 400,000 shekels for maximum disability of 100%, and the amount of compensation will be proportional to the degree of disability."
In conclusion, "All students in the State of Israel are insured with personal accident insurance, which covers students due to injuries 24/7 in the country and abroad. The exceptions to this are road accidents — in which one must sue the compulsory insurance of the hitting vehicle or the vehicle in which one was traveling, and victims of hostile acts and work accidents, in which one must sue the National Insurance Institute."
