Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
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- P'ninat Mishpat
Case: The plaintiff (=pl) is a lawyer (/owner of a law firm) who represented the defendant (=def), a wealthy businessman (/businesses he owned) in many matters, including several multi-million-shekel (attempted) purchases. Def paid pl more than 1.6 million shekels over 4 years, but pl claims that he is still owed more than 2 million shekels.
Issue #2: In several of the cases that pl handled, there was no prior agreement (or pl did not succeed to prove that there was) of the rate of payment due to pl. Pl claims that it should be according pl’s normal per-hour fee. Def objects to the system and the high rate that pl claims is standard.
P'ninat Mishpat (835)
Various Rabbis
369 - Preventing Unfair Rent Hikes – part II
370 - The Lawyer’s Rights to Full Fees from Reluctant Client – part II
371 - Lawyer’s Rights to Full Fees from Reluctant Client – part IV
Load More
Other matters in which there were prior agreements between pland def can be telling regarding cases where there no agreement. The Rama (CM 333:8) says that if someone worked for a year at a certain price and then continued without stipulating a price, we assume it is at the same price. Admittedly, we are discussing new cases and not a continuation, and we see that there were different agreements in different cases. However, we can still use the past to help figure out the range of possible rates, within which we should pick the lowest. Furthermore, in certain fields, including law, it is common for a firm to have standard rates (as pl claims to have), in which case, if the client wants a lower rate, he should negotiate for it. Finally, when determining the range of rates, one has to consider the quality of the firm involved (see parallel idea in Shulchan Aruch, CM 332:1), and def agreed that plis in the top-tier of law firms. Thus, def cannot pay pl like a low or middle-level lawyer.
Since it is not possible to determine in every case what the two sides would have agreed to, the most feasible manner of estimation is by hour. However, it is clear that the rates quoted are pl’s full rates, and there is no question that pl often offered def lower rates based on their ongoing relationship. We also consider that the responsibility for setting the rates was on pl. Therefore, based on peshara hakerova ladin, we determine that when there is no other indication, pl is entitled to 60% of the full rate, according to the hours that they claim (discussed last week).
Various Rabbis
Various Rabbis including those of of Yeshivat Bet El, such as Rabbi Chaim Katz, Rabbi Binyamin Bamberger and Rabbi Yitzchak Greenblat and others.
Moreshet Shaul Moreshet Shaul: A Crown and its Scepter – part II
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 294-5
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Sharing in Plumbing Expenses – part I
based on ruling 85013 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Agricultural Water Rights – part I
based on ruling 84122 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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Various Events FOR WHOM NOT TO VOTE
Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook stressed that Israeli politics is G-dly, so I have no problem answering this common question on a Torani blog. Also, Free-Will is a G-d-given right and obligation, to "destine one's fate" (R. Soloveichik, Kol Dodi Dofek, 67), so I obviously don't tell others how to vote. But once not a few (especially young) have already asked, a couple of personal words from experience and thoughts from chazal & Rav Kook which may be of help to others, mainly for whom NOT to vote.
P'ninat Mishpat Fallout from Failure to Install Elevator – part II
based on ruling 85007 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
