Court Awards Young Man $75,000 After Diving Accident at Rental Property

A district court in Netanya has ordered the owners of a "Zimmer" (vacation rental) complex to pay 350,000 shekels (approximately $93,000 USD) in damages to a young man who suffered a severe neck injury after diving headfirst into a shallow pool during a bachelor party in June 2019. The court found the owners negligent for failing to warn guests about the pool's low water level.

The plaintiff, then 34, testified that he entered the pool without knowing its depth and hit his head on the bottom, leading to a spinal fusion surgery. He sued the complex owners, its operating company, and the Phoenix insurance company, claiming the absence of warning signs about shallow water or pool depth markers contributed to the accident. Friends corroborated his account.

The defendants argued the plaintiff, who is 1.95 meters tall, acted recklessly by diving headfirst into an "un-dug" pool without checking its depth. However, Judge Noam Raffe accepted the plaintiff's version regarding the lack of signage, stating the defendants failed to provide evidence of any warning signs being present. The court estimated the water depth at no more than 1.5 meters.

While ruling the lack of proper signage constituted negligence, the judge also assigned the plaintiff 40% of the blame for not exercising reasonable caution, considering his age, height, and the fact he dived without checking the depth. The total damages, including lost wages and pain and suffering, were assessed at 453,966 shekels. After deducting the plaintiff's contributory negligence, he was awarded 272,379 shekels (approximately $72,000 USD). The defendants were also ordered to pay legal fees and expenses totaling 64,281 shekels (approximately $17,000 USD).