A secular family sued a travel agency after having booked a vacation in a hotel in Tiberias only to find out upon arrival that almost all the hotel guests were Haredim.
In February 2012 the family ordered a vacation package via a travel agency, paying 7,500 NIS for the coming Pesach holiday. Upon arrival they discovered a) the standard of the hotel was very low quality and b) despite having been told by the travel agency that the hotel guest list will be very diverse, the hotel was booked almost completely with Haredi guests - and as a result their kids were harassed for the way they dressed, even having been called "Shiksa"..
The judge threw out the first claim, saying the price should have been a giveaway as to the status of the hotel, and they have no claim. They were not deceived on that matter.
Regarding the second claim, the family was claiming 40,500 NIS from the travel agency.
The agency responded in the lawsuit that they took no responsibility for the quality of hotel services, and had no way of knowing what the final guest list would look like.
The court did decide, regarding the second claim, that when the family asked about what type of gusts would occupy the hotel, the agency had the responsibility to inquire how important of an issue that factor would be and then to recommend against buying that hotel package. The court decided on this matter in favor of the family, and ordered the agency to pay 5250 NIS, and another 3500 NIS in lawyers fees - far less than the 40,5000 NIS demanded..
The agency explained that the hotel is a three-star hotel, the family knew that fact, and the price was commensurate to the status of the hotel. Regarding the second claim, the agency says the hotel has a "glatt" hechsher and serves the haredi community all year round. The agency had originally offered to reimburse the cost of the package, but the family wanted to go to court to try to "get rich" off them, and the court ended up awarding them less than what had originally been offered for reimbursement.
(source: Bechadrei)
Getting called a shiksa turns out to not be worth very much in monetary terms.. but good for the courts for not letting this family take advantage of the situation.. the last thing we need is a to become a litigious society like in America with crazy court settlements for damages that will end up driving prices up to cover malpractice and lawsuits and all sorts of frivolous claims...
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