Court Rejects Insurance Claim Over Conflicting Accident Accounts
A man in the Israeli village of Dabburiya had his NIS 48,000 insurance claim denied after a court found his account of a July 27, 2024, car accident to be inconsistent and unconvincing. The plaintiff claimed he was driving his Hyundai IX35 late at night to a bakery when he lost control and hit a parked car. He stated he then called his daughter, Nidda, to pick him up.
However, the insurance company, Clal, refused to pay, alleging his 17.5-year-old son, Ahmed, who was explicitly excluded from the policy as drivers must be 24 or older, was actually driving. An insurance investigator examining the plaintiff's phone records discovered inconsistencies. The plaintiff's phone showed an incoming call from his son Ahmed at 2:50 AM, followed by outgoing calls to his daughter and then back to his son. The court noted that if the plaintiff had been driving, the first call would likely have been outgoing from his phone.
Further discrepancies emerged regarding the accident itself. The plaintiff initially told the investigator he accidentally hit the gas instead of the brake, but later testified in court that the brake pedal got stuck on a rubber mat. His story about notifying the owners of the damaged vehicles also changed, from his brother contacting them the next morning to leaving a note under a windshield wiper, a version contradicted by one of the car owners.
Adding to the doubts, photos taken by the plaintiff at the scene were timestamped 3:08 AM, significantly later than the initial phone call from his son, raising questions about why he waited to document the accident. The plaintiff's refusal to provide WhatsApp chat logs and family phone numbers to the investigator further weakened his case.
Ultimately, the court ruled that while the burden of proof was on the plaintiff, the insurance company had successfully cast significant doubt on his version of events. The court dismissed the claim entirely, ordering the plaintiff to pay the insurance company NIS 1,300 for the investigator's testimony and NIS 5,700 in legal fees.
