93-year-old woman withdrew from selling an apartment and was sued for 620,000 shekels
Hours before signing the contract for the sale of the property in Jerusalem, the elderly woman experienced a panic attack and informed the interested parties of the cancellation of the deal. The court dismissed the subsequent lawsuit.
The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court recently dismissed a lawsuit for 620,000 shekels filed against an elderly apartment owner in the city, because she withdrew at the last moment before signing the agreement for its sale. Judge Oren Silverman ruled that, contrary to the buyers' claims, no binding contract had been formed between the parties.
The case involves a 93-year-old Holocaust survivor who owns an apartment on Shai Agnon Street. The plaintiffs stated that negotiations had taken place between the parties, during which a price of 6.2 million shekels was agreed upon. They prepared for the signing of the agreement and even prepared a bank check for 1.5 million shekels, but on the morning of the signing, they received a message from the apartment owner's lawyer that she had changed her mind and the meeting was cancelled.
The plaintiffs' main argument was that despite the lack of signatures, this was effectively a final and binding agreement that the apartment owner had fundamentally breached, and therefore she must pay them the agreed compensation, amounting to one-tenth of the transaction value, i.e., 620,000 shekels. She argued in response that she did not change her mind for no reason, but because she suffered a panic attack and acute mental distress.
"This is a clear case of sincere and human regret," she claimed.
She emphasized that she withdrew not due to a lack of good faith, but as a result of a "dramatic medical event" she experienced. According to her, the lawsuit is a "predatory attempt" to force an unsigned real estate transaction upon her.
Indeed, Judge Silverman ruled that no binding agreement had been formed between the parties. He explained that according to case law, a seller's withdrawal from a real estate transaction, even on the eve of signing, leaves the relationship at the pre-contractual stage, and the absence of a signature is weighty evidence of a lack of final intent. The ruling noted that while case law allows for legal validity to be granted to agreements even in the absence of a signature, this case does not justify a deviation from the rule that the absence of a signature means the absence of a binding contract.
The judge wrote that "the factual circumstances under which the defendant suffered a panic attack and mental distress, certainly against the background of her age, cannot establish a claim of lack of good faith in not signing the agreement." He added that this is not a case of an apartment owner who sold it to others out of greed or withdrew due to unexpected tax liabilities. Under these circumstances, he dismissed the plaintiffs' claim and ordered them to pay legal costs of 15,000 shekels.
