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The Civil Litigation Clinic is an innovative clinic, whose goal is to provide theoretical and practical tools that will enable the participants students to promote human rights (especially among disadvantaged populations) using civil law tools: tort proceedings, class actions, remedies for infringement of rights Etc.

The accumulated experience in the field of human rights lawyering shows that traditional constitutional and administrative law tools, despite their importance, do not provide a sufficient solution to the violation of human rights. The problem derives from the limited range of possible remedies and from the the procedures of law and evidence. For example, while in public-law proceedings remedies are limited (especially in the administrative process) to forward-looking preventative measures – the civil proceedings give greater power to the individual who has been wronged, to demand compensation and restitution. Monetary remedies create an important deterrent effect that influence the conduct of the public authorities in the future thus making civil procedures an important auxiliary tool for promoting human rights.

Moreover, the understanding that the violation of human rights, especially among the disadvantaged populations, may occur not only by public bodies but also by powerful private entities – reinforces the need to provide individuals with protection against abuse of power gaps. Examples include injustice in the collection of financial debts, denial of rights to insurance compensations, discrimination, and predatory loans and marketing, and  other consumer injuries to large and sometimes weakened populations.

The clinic will provide students with a rich theoretical and practical educational experience of the range of civic legal tools  for promoting human rights. The clinic will invite students to engage in a reflective and critical discussion concerning the advantages and disadvantages of civil procedures as a tool for promoting human rights.

The clinic will be accompanied by an academic seminar:  Dr. Yehuda Adar.

 Clinic Staff

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Poverty and Debt

• Purchasing a Public Housing Home: The Clinic filed an Amicus Curiae brief in a case concerning the right to purchase one’s public housing flat. S., a widow and single mother of three children, lives in a public housing flat and pays a monthly payment to the execution office to repay consolidated debt from numerous sources. The monthly payment was determined according to her economic ability, and is significantly lower than it would be without the consolidation order. A year and a half ago, S. received an offer to buy the apartment in which she lived most of her life at a substantial discount, and she did so through a mortgage. However, under a consolidation order, she is not allowed to take upon herself any further debt, and as a result the consolidation order was cancelled and her monthly payment was raised from 250 NIS to 2,000 NIS. The court ruled that taking a loan in order to purchase a public housing apartment is a vital expense and therefore should not result in the cancelation of the consolidation order.

Together with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the clinic commented on a governmental bill that seeks to reduce the payment of interest in debt settlement cases. The bill emerged after years of struggle, and it is a reincarnation of a previous proposal, in which the law was not supposed to apply to banks, cellular companies, credit, etc. (which will be the majority of the portfolios, with high interest rates). Fortunately, most of our comments were internalized, however, our demand to enable a full decrease of interest was rejected. Discrimination

• The clinic approached the Ministry of Transportation, concerning announcement of the stations in the “Carmelit” a Haifa tram, as required to ensure accessibility for people with sensory disabilities. Following our request, the Carmelit drivers began to announce the names of the stations during the trip.
• The clinic will address cases of discrimination using tort litigation. Cases may include: discrimination of Arab citizens on the basis of their nationality; LGBTQ; disability discrimination; gender discrimination; and more.

Tort litigation for enforcement of rights

• The clinic was approached by parents whose child did not receive a para-medical aid for their allergic child, and as a result their child suffered a life threatening allergic reaction.

The clinic has partnered with the Public Defender office in Haifa to promote tort litigation to contend with breach of rights in criminal procedures including seizures, searches, arrests and detentions.

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