Mass Tort brief
Corporate Accountability and Cross-Border Mass Tort Exposure
Israeli courts advance major class actions against state energy operators and retail giants as European liability reforms threaten medical exporters.
Mass Tort
Eilat residents sued EAPC for ₪140M over toxic oil terminal fumes — testing whether state energy monopolies can be held liable for coastal air pollution.
BackgroundThe Europe-Asia Pipeline Company operates strategic energy pipelines and marine storage hubs connecting the Red Sea port of Eilat to Ashkelon on the Mediterranean coast. Coastal residents near the Eilat oil terminal have lodged hundreds of environmental complaints regarding pungent petrochemical smells over several years.
- The lawsuit represents approximately 70,000 residents and tourists exposed to hazardous emissions between 2021 and 2025, seeking direct medical and emotional damages.
- Plaintiffs documented 142 municipal reports of severe nausea, respiratory difficulty, and headaches, linking the physical distress directly to volatile organic compound releases.
- EAPC denied liability in preliminary filings, asserting its petroleum loading infrastructure complies fully with Ministry of Environmental Protection standards and permit conditions.
Mass Tort
Google paid ₪8.3M to resolve Israeli claims of unauthorized location tracking — cementing consumer privacy penalties for deceptive interface designs.
BackgroundTwo consolidated consumer lawsuits filed in Tel Aviv alleged Google tracked Android and iOS device locations even when users toggled Location History to off. Technology platforms face mounting legal exposure worldwide for utilizing deceptive interface designs that mislead consumers on privacy settings.
- Judge Rachel Barkai finalized the settlement, requiring Google to transfer ₪8.3M directly to the state-run fund supporting public-interest class actions.
- The agreement mandates Google establish transparent disclosures informing Israeli consumers how background web and app activity interacts with GPS tracking.
- The ruling establishes domestic precedent for imposing monetary penalties on multinational tech platforms without requiring claimants to endure years of full evidentiary trials.
Mass Tort
Bank Leumi agreed to refund ₪2M in foreign currency fees — forcing commercial banks to end inflated transaction classification practices.
BackgroundIsraeli retail banks apply distinct fee schedules for standard foreign currency transfers versus complex international commercial trade financing. Customers alleged Bank Leumi systematically routed routine online transactions through higher-tier commercial trade fee categories to inflate fee income.
- Judge Avi Gorman signed the consent agreement granting qualifying commercial and private bank customers an 85% refund plus interest and indexation.
- The settlement establishes explicit classification standards preventing the bank from applying foreign-trade tariff rates to routine international payments.
- The recovery highlights aggressive judicial oversight targeting administrative fee classifications across Israel's major commercial lenders, setting up scrutiny for peers.
Mass Tort
The labor court certified a class action against Rami Levy over cashier wage docking — establishing that retail shortfalls cannot be deducted from worker pay.
BackgroundSupermarket chains in Israel have historically required cash register operators to personally reimburse drawer shortfalls identified during end-of-shift reconciliations. The Israeli Wage Protection Law strictly prohibits employers from making unilateral deductions from employee paychecks without explicit statutory authorization.
- The court ruled that offsetting register shortages against employee wages is unlawful, rejecting Rami Levy's claims of voluntary contractual consent.
- The retailer was ordered to file its formal defense within 30 days and publish public legal notifications across two national Hebrew newspapers.
- The certified class action could compel major supermarket chains to overhaul retail cash handling protocols and compensate frontline hourly workers nationwide.
Mass Tort
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