מה זה "תובע סדרתי"?
A serial plaintiff is a person who frequently goes to court, usually on the same or similar issues. In recent years, it has been easy to identify serial plaintiffs who file a large number of class action lawsuits on the subject of accessibility and website accessibility, as well as Spam claims.
BrowseClass Action Registry (a notebook that is available to everyone free of charge and in which you can find all the class actions that have been filed) will reveal that the same serial plaintiff who files many class actions, sometimes uses almost exactly the same wording of the request for certification. Class action lawsuit. מדובר ממש ב"טמפלט" שבו משנים רק את פרטי הנתבע ומעט נתונים עובדתיים כדי שיתאימו למקרה הרלוונטי לאותו נתבע. כל השאר נשאר זהה כמעט לחלוטין.
תובע סדרתי לרוב לא נאלץ "לעבוד קשה" כדי להגיש בקשה לאישור תביעה ייצוגית כי הוא מגיש בקשה משוכפלת, ומצד שני, הרווח או התועלת הצפויה לו עשויה להיות משמעותית מאוד. The financial incentive is why there are so many serial plaintiffs, because it is clear to them that they are expected to profit from these legal proceedings. Some see these serial plaintiffs as blackmailers within the authority of the law., because they sometimes exploit a negligible violation to rake in amounts of money that are far from negligible.
Imagine if for each request for class action approval a serial plaintiff receives five thousand shekels (for example) and he files 100 such proceedings a year, he easily earns half a million shekels a year. How many of the people reading this article earn that amount in one year?
Disadvantages of a serial plaintiff
The most obvious disadvantage of a serial plaintiff is the desire to make money. This is sometimes done by exploiting a very small violation by a business. Sometimes it is a small business that is not even aware that it is committing a violation because it does not have legal counsel.
Instead of sending to the same business Warning letter before filing a claim class action and inform him that he is committing some violation that may justify filing a class action lawsuit, that serial plaintiff immediately files a motion for approval of a class action lawsuit with the court and demands financial compensation in the amount of millions of shekels.
In the vast majority of cases, if the business manages the process, there is a very high chance that it will even win and be able to reject the approval request, and even cause that serial plaintiff to be charged withLegal expenses Significant.
The real problem in these cases is that the business will be forced to pay lawyers tens of thousands of shekels, and sometimes over a hundred thousand shekels. Lawyer's fees. לעומת זאת, אותו תובע סדרתי ועורכי דינו יהיו מוכנים "להסתפק" בסכומים נמוכים הרבה יותר כדי להסכים לסיים את ההליך.
In these circumstances, the business is facing a financial problem and not necessarily a legal problem. The vast majority of businesses would prefer to pay the same serial plaintiff to end the process, rather than lawyers to represent the business.
The advantage of a serial plaintiff
Given the fact that a serial plaintiff is involved in many legal proceedings, he usually gains significant knowledge and experience that may assist him in those cases where it is indeed justified to conduct a class action lawsuit. This issue is also reflected in In legal literature Which sometimes justifies the phenomenon of serial plaintiffs.
A serial plaintiff files a class action lawsuit because he knows how to identify a violation of the law. Even a small business without an attached legal advisor is not exempt from the provisions of the law, and this issue cannot be ignored.
This is more significant when it comes to a large business with a very large number of customers. In those cases, a serial plaintiff may represent the group of victims better, given the extensive experience he has gained in the past.
A serial plaintiff usually understands better how the class action is conducted and the costs he or she is expected to incur. Not everyone will always want to file a motion to approve a class action in light of the significant costs (court fees, sometimes expert opinions, the risk of paying legal fees at the end of the proceedings, etc.).
A serial plaintiff will usually know what evidence is necessary for the success of the class action, and will act better and more correctly to obtain this evidence.
Court ruling on serial plaintiff
In the context of class actions, many rulings have been issued dealing with the phenomenon of the serial plaintiff. Some justify this phenomenon and some pass sharp criticism on serial plaintiffs who do not benefit the public, but only their own bank account.
Here are some examples:
רע"א 1468/23 אריה ישראל ערמון נ' ויקטורי רשת סופרמרקטים:
I would also like to note that the applicant frequently files class actions, and this matter may, in light of his conduct in previous proceedings, serve as a consideration in assessing the possibility that the applicant will be imposed costs for defective procedural conduct. (It should be clarified: This comment is raised as a matter of principle, not as a position on the applicant's conduct in our case within the framework of other proceedings - a subject on which I do not have information that allows me to express a position on the merits of the matter).
רע"א 2904/14 זיו גלסברג נ' קלאב רמון בע"מ:
It is clear that Section 30A of the Communications Law actually encourages the filing of many lawsuits under it, with relative ease, and it is no wonder that יש אשר אולי יראו בכך מקור הכנסה נאה בטרחה מועטה (כך למשל, ומבלי רצון לפגוע או לקבוע עמדה בעלת גוון "אישי", עיון קצר במאגרי המידע מלמד כי המבקש ברע"א 2904/14 פנה לא אחת ולא שתיים בתביעות מעין אלה לבית המשפט לתביעות קטנות). סבורני, כי מיטיב היה המחוקק לעשות אילו נתן לכך דעתו, ואיפשר לבתי המשפט במקרים המתאימים, ומבלי לאיין את התמריץ שיש לשמר לעניין הגשת תביעות מעין אלה, לפסוק חלק מן הסכומים לטובת מטרות ציבוריות כגון עמותות – שבהן כמובן אין כוונת רווח – אשר שמו להן למטרה להילחם בתופעת ה-spam באופן קונקרטי, או למען הגנת הפרטיות.
רע"א 4556/94 רמי טצת ואח' נ' אברהם זילברשץ:
אין להרתיע תובעים תמימים משימוש בתובענה הייצוגית. יש לראות בה מכשיר משפטי-חברתי המגן על הפרט והכלל. יש להפעילו בגמישות וביעילות. יש להיזהר מהוספת דרישות מקדמיות לאישורן של תובענות כייצוגיות, העלולות לסרבל הליך במקום לייעלו…יש למנוע הפיכת הדיון המקדמי ב"כשירות" התובע הייצוגי לדיון העיקרי.
…
However, it must be ensured that the class action does not become an instrument of extortion under the guise of the law. Extortion in the form of a strike suit must be prevented; the danger inherent in the improper use of the instrument of the class action must be recognized.
ת"צ 38494-08-23 ראם בן אור נ' אריה ברוך (מכללת שרוטל):
In the same matter, but in a different context, the Supreme Court said that there are those who might see the filing of such applications for approval as a source of handsome income with little hassle, when a particular plaintiff frequently generates new claims, which on the face of it may be suspected of a desire for personal gain, and therefore it is appropriate that his claim be accepted at a reduced rate. (ראו: רע"א 2904-14 גלסברג נ' קלאב רמון בע"מ (27.07.2014)).
ת"צ 50504-06-20 שי קרוננברג נ' רשת משקפיים 280 בע"מ:
כפי שציינתי בהקשרים אחרים (ר' ת"צ 54871-09-20 אוריאל רז המאושר נ' בן ציון גופשטיין (24.11.2022; פורסם במאגרים)), עמידה על זכות משפטית איננה מלמדת פסול בהתנהלות ואין בה כדי לעורר חשש לניהול הליך ייצוגי שלא בדרך הולמת ובחוסר Good faith, as the respondent argued before me. Indeed, it would have been better if the applicant had detailed his activity in the field of spam claims, but even if he refrained from doing so, I do not believe that this requires disqualification of the applicant and publication for the purpose of finding an alternative applicant, and certainly not the rejection of the application before me.
ויודגש, אינני רואה כל פסול בכך שהמבקש מעורב ויוזם הליכים רבים. אף אם ביסודם של הליכים אלה מניע כלכלי כנטען, וזהו "מקור פרנסתו", כבר נפסק לא אחת כי אין בכך משום טעם לפגם (ר' פס' 7 לפסק דינה של כב' השופטת (כתוארה דאז) א' חיות ברע"א 4363/17 נקניק נהריה כשר זוגלובק בע"מ נ' שגב ירון [פורסם במאגרים] (24.8.2017)).
In conclusion
A serial plaintiff is a person who files many, sometimes identical and duplicate, lawsuits, changing the defendant's name and a number of factual details.
Most often, the serial plaintiff's goal is to gain financial reward (which can sometimes be significant) and he is not necessarily interested in the public benefit that his claim may achieve.
A serial plaintiff knows that business owners will settle with him in the vast majority of cases because it will cost them more to defend themselves in court.
לתובע סדרתי יש גם יתרונות – הוא בקיא יותר בהוראות החוק והפסיקה, מנוסה יותר בהופעות בבתי משפט, ויודע טוב יותר כיצד "לבנות תיק" לצורך הגשתו לבית המשפט.
