n a recent decision by the Krayot Magistrate’s Court, the court considered an application to enforce two dishonored checks totaling ILS 3,100, filed by a daycare provider against the mother of one of the children enrolled in the daycare. The court ultimately held that the daycare provider had committed a fundamental breach of the agreement between the parties.
The two checks, issued by the mother and made payable to the daycare center operated by the provider, were canceled by the mother. After the provider filed an application to enforce the checks, enforcement proceedings were initiated through the Israel Enforcement and Collection Authority.
The mother filed an objection to the enforcement proceedings, arguing that she had withdrawn her son from the daycare immediately because the daycare’s live camera system—which the provider had expressly undertaken to keep operational—had ceased functioning. She maintained that she feared for her son’s safety, particularly because he had previously been subjected to abuse at another daycare facility.
The Senior Registrar who heard the objection accepted the mother’s arguments. The court held that the daycare provider’s failure to operate the promised camera system constituted a fundamental breach of the agreement, dismissed the application to enforce the checks, and ordered the enforcement file to be closed.
In its reasoning, the court noted that the agreement contained two essential contractual obligations:
the daycare provider’s commitment to operate a live camera system enabling parents to monitor the daycare in real time; and
the parents’ obligation to provide 60 days’ prior notice before withdrawing their child from the daycare.
Because the parents were unable to access the live camera system as promised, the provider fundamentally breached the agreement. The court concluded that this breach entitled the parents to terminate the agreement immediately and remove their child from the daycare without giving the required 60-day notice, particularly in light of the potential risk of exposing the child to abuse during that notice period.
