An Israeli couple who bought sandals for an impoverished man has learned the hard way that no good deed goes unpunished. They were ordered to pay damages when the recipient of their gift said the footwear caused him back problems.
The Maariv daily reported on Wednesday that Rachel Ben-Lulu, from the northern city of Beit Shean, bought a needy fellow resident a pair of Italian-made orthopaedic sandals, worth 200 Israeli shekels (about $50) in April last year.
Several months later she and her husband were sued for 17 800 shekels (about $4 200) on the grounds the sandals were the cause of the pain the gift’s recipient said he was suffering in his back.
The Ben-Lulus, preoccupied by their soldier son’s injury while on active service in the Gaza Strip, and by the war then raging between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, did not submit a defence and lost the case.
They have decided to appeal the verdict. — Sapa-dpa