Knesset law panel rejects bill to shorten statute of limitations

By DAN IZENBERG
After almost two years and 13 meetings in the Knesset Law Committee devoted to a government bill to shorten the statute of limitations in civil cases, the committee overwhelmingly defeated the proposal and forced the government to withdraw the bill. The drama ended quickly after the committee voted eight to three in favor of the first of three options to leave the statute of limitations at seven years, as it has been for the past 30 years. Those who voted against the bill included Shelly Yacimovich (Labor), Ophir Pines-Paz (Labor), Zehava Gal-On (Meretz), Jamal Zahalka (Balad), Avraham Michaeli (Shas), David Rotem (Israel Beitenu), Gideon Sa'ar (Likud) and Elhanan Glazer (Pensioners). The government wanted to reduce the statute of limitation to four years. According to the proposal, anyone who wished to sue for damages caused when he was minor would require special court permission to do so and then only between the ages of 18 and 22. A third proposal, championed by committee chairman Menahem Ben-Sasson, would have differentiated between the statute of limitations for those who had suffered physical harm and all other cases. Ben-Sasson also proposed leaving the precise number of years in each case to the plenum to decide. But the committee would have none of it. In a last-minute plea, Justice Ministry attorney Erez Kaminetz argued that in the Western world, the statute of limitations for lawsuits was only three years. He also maintained that the law explicitly listed those situations which would justify prolonging the statute of limitations. In all other cases, it was best for the plaintiff as well as the targets of lawsuits to deal with the matter in court as quickly as possible, when the evidence was still relatively fresh. Ben-Sasson said after the vote, "The model that I proposed was meant to benefit both plaintiffs and respondents. Regretfully, the intensive efforts of the lobbyists were successful and they persuaded the MKs, who were unfamiliar with all the provisions of the bill, to vote against it." One of the lobbyists was the Israel Bar. In a statement released after the vote, it said, "The Knesset accepted the Bar's position, which opposed the government bill since its inception four years ago on the grounds that it hurt the weaker segments of the population and strengthened the powerful ones, the state and the insurance companies. "The Bar enlisted in the struggle social organizations such as Halev Bamishpat, the Women's Network, the National Council for the Child, the umbrella organization of the disabled and others." Yitzhak Kadman, head of the National Council for the Child, told The Jerusalem Post after the vote, "This bill should never have been born, but since it was, it is good that it was defeated in time. It included horrible provisions regarding children. The reduction of the statute of limitations regarding children was much worse than it was for other groups. "Everyone I spoke to, including even some in the academic world who advised [the government] on the bill, said it was mistaken regarding children because it caused them such injustice." Yacimovich said, "The idea of shortening the statute of limitations is immoral. The incentive of the law is solely efficiency and savings. But when we talk about doing justice, we cannot talk about efficiency and savings. The main victims of the bill would have been the weaker segments of the population and the general public because the rich and powerful have lawyers who will tell them exactly when they should file their lawsuits. "The exploited worker or the woman who is the victim of a sexual crime only know retroactively that he or she was exploited or only has the strength to sue retroactively. It is wrong to hurt such people." Attorney Yaron Festinger, the Bar's chief lobbyist against the government bill, said "the MKs displayed maturity, responsibility and independence and foiled the proposal, which went entirely against the public, against the man-on-the-street. It was an unacceptable and distorted initiative."