Canceled Tour, Dirty Villa and Fabricated AI Citations: Three Court Decisions

The Tour Was Canceled Within Hours

Three women demanded that “Discovery Global Travel” refund a deposit of 17,500 shekels for an organized tour to South America that was canceled several hours after it was booked. Judge Dalit Vered of the Tel Aviv Small Claims Court ruled that this was not a distance-selling transaction under the Consumer Protection Law because no unsolicited marketing approach by the company had been proven: the customers found the service themselves and contacted the seller. Accordingly, the contract and the website’s terms applied, rather than the restriction of cancellation fees to 100 shekels or 5% of the transaction’s value.

The Cancellation Fees Were Reduced

The company demanded approximately 12,000 shekels for domestic flights and presented invoices for their booking. Under the Contracts Law, the court reduced the payment to 60% of the cost of the domestic flights—7,253 shekels; the company was required to refund the plaintiffs approximately 10,000 shekels. Because it failed to respond to their inquiries, the company was also ordered to pay 3,000 shekels for emotional distress and 1,500 shekels in legal costs.

The Platform Is Not Responsible for the Villa’s Cleanliness

A woman who booked a villa in Greece through “Booking” claimed that she found dirt, insects, furniture with an unpleasant odor, and a kitchen that had not been properly maintained. The Small Claims Court awarded her 5,300 shekels, but the Haifa District Court granted the appeal and overturned the compensation award. Judge Idit Weinberger ruled that “Booking” is an intermediary platform required to oversee the accuracy of material information on the website, but it cannot continuously monitor unforeseen deficiencies in the cleanliness and maintenance of properties.

The Expert Opinion Containing Fabricated Citations Was Disqualified

The Nof HaGalil Magistrate’s Court examined an expert opinion in a civil case against attorney Lital Mordechai, who was accused of negligence in performing her role as a trustee. Senior Judge Shaden Nashaf-Abu Ahmad ruled that the document included legal sources that did not exist or had been distorted, including a book and a judgment that could not be located, and linked this to artificial intelligence “hallucinations.” The expert opinion was disqualified as evidence, and Mordechai was ordered to pay costs of 5,000 shekels; the court emphasized the duty to carefully verify the existence of every precedent and source submitted.

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