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The bike's battery exploded. Who will compensate for the damage? - Walla! Of money

2021-10-25T11:01:23.696Z


The battery of electric bikes, a means of transportation that is gaining popularity especially among young people, could turn into a ticking time bomb. Who is responsible for the damage, and no less important: who will pay for it?


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The bike's battery exploded.

Who will compensate for the damage?

The battery of electric bikes, a means of transportation that is gaining popularity especially among young people, could turn into a ticking time bomb.

The tragic cases in which human beings perish make headlines, but there are dozens more cases in which heavy property damage has been done.

Who is responsible for the damage, and no less important: who will pay for it?

Tags

  • Electric Bicycle

  • accident

  • Compensation

  • Electric battery

Adv. Assaf Warsaw

Monday, 25 October 2021, 13:30 Updated: 13:56

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Electric bicycles have become a popular means of transportation, especially in crowded urban areas.

They are especially popular with children and teenagers, but have become a common means of transportation even among young people who are tired of the traffic jams on the roads.

It is usually an alternative means of transportation, easy to use - and when traveling legally, also relatively safe, but despite this, we have recently witnessed quite a few cases where batteries exploded or ignited and caused a fire.



When it comes to tragic cases, where there are victims in the psyche, we are exposed to them through the media.

But there are many more cases where the damage is to property only, although sometimes it is heavy damage.



To understand who is responsible for the product, who is responsible for technical defects discovered in it - and who should compensate the user, in case of a malfunction that caused the damage, we turned to Adv. Assaf Warsaw, co-chair of the tort forum at the Bar Association, an expert in insurance law.

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Battery of electric bikes.

We often pay attention to the dangers of riding, but sometimes the battery is a real "time bomb" (Photo: ShutterStock)

A number of factors can be claimed

Who is supposed to compensate the property owner for the damages caused to him as a result of the fire?



The owner of the damaged property has the option of suing a number of parties. The first is the store from which the battery was purchased. If it turns out to be a non-standard battery sold by him, negligence can certainly be attributed to him. Unfortunately, the market in Israel has broken out to a certain extent and quite a few non-standard batteries are sold to the general public, which is unaware of the great risk inherent in them.



However, not only the store is an address for a lawsuit, since the battery importer also has a warranty for its products. True, the constant requirement required of a reasonable importer in inspecting his imported products may be lower than that required of a manufacturer, so that the mere presence of a defect in the product does not necessarily indicate the importer's negligence. Alongside the aforesaid, one of the main ways of proving the importer's negligence is through the use of section 41 of the Torts Ordinance which stipulates that if three conditions are met, the burden of proof shifts to the importer to prove that he was not negligent.



And what are those conditions? First, the plaintiff has no ability to know the circumstances that led to the damage; The damage was caused by an asset over which the defendant had full control; And it appears to the court that the incidental event which caused the damage is more consistent with the conclusion that the defendant did not exercise reasonable care than with the conclusion that he exercised reasonable care.



In addition, reality shows that there is a lack of uniformity between the courts in applying the standard of reasonableness and negligence on the part of an importer due to a built-in difficulty in examining the importer's actions and the lack of a standard of care in relation to import operations. To summarize this paragraph, indeed - an importer's claim is a difficult hurdle to cross.



In light of this, in the event of damage to property to the contents or structure that is insured under an apartment policy, the initial address that you should contact for compensation is the insurance company. This is because unlike a tort claim procedure, the contract with the insurance company is on a contractual basis, and there is no need to prove negligence but only that the damage occurred as a result of a fire caused by the battery explosion.

Even bicycles in which the battery caught fire outside the apartment and caused damage to another, could be a source of lawsuit against their owners (Photo: ShutterStock)

The manufacturer's warranty includes a liability

And what about bodily harm? Will the injured party also be required to undergo a tedious legal process here?



No. Liability for Defective Products Act, 1980, is a social law imposes strict liability on the manufacturer, and determines that an obligation to compensate those who suffered damage as a result of a defect in the product body created without having to prove fault on the part of the manufacturer.



There is a law that sets Manufacturer Expansion is also an importer to Israel product for commercial purposes and supplier of a product can not identify the manufacturer or importer. as stated in the manufacturer's warranty includes the obligation to compensation in cases where the damage had been caused to the human body resulting from a defective product, even if it was not the direct fault.



in cases where the damage was caused by Component that was defective in the product, the liability for compensation will apply to both the manufacturers of the product and the component.Compensation includes coverage for losses due to loss of working days and loss of earning capacity, including compensation for permanent loss of ability to work.

Adv. Assaf Warsaw, Co-Chair of the Torts Forum at the Bar Association, Insurance Law Specialist (Photo: PR)

The battery ignited outside the house and caused damage to the property of others?

You are exposed to lawsuits

How do we know what a defective product is?



The law stipulates that a defective product is a product which due to a defect in it may cause bodily harm and which in the circumstances of the case require warnings or treatment instructions, and they were not given or were given to an insufficient extent. The burden of proof in this case will be on the manufacturer or importer.



And what about in the case where my battery was charged outside my home area and caused damage to the building as a result of a flare-up, can a lawsuit be filed against me?



Definitely. The insurance company or the injured party can file a lawsuit against the owner of the battery, but it can also file a lawsuit against other parties in the chain, including the store from which he bought the battery, the importer, etc. At the end of the day, should and the court finds that negligence led to the fire, it may determine their liability rate for the damage and divide the amount of compensation according to their relative share.




Is there any insurance that covers my liability for such damage?



The apartment policy has the option of a dedicated policy that covers third-party damages to electric bicycle riders.

To the extent that it does not exceed coverage for bicycles, it is not inconceivable that the insurance company will step into the shoes of the insured and pay compensation to the injured party.

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Source: walla

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