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Chabad lawsuit against congregation
is dismissed, but appeal is expected.
David Sachs
Senior Copy Editor
T
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12
August 23 • 2012
„IN
he lawsuit by Chabad-
Lubavitch of Michigan
seeking title to the Sara and
Morris Tugman Bais Chabad Torah
Center of West Bloomfield was dis-
missed — practically before it got
started.
Oakland County
Circuit Judge Rae
Lee Chabot ruled
Aug. 15 that Chabad
of Michigan, led
by Oak Park-based
Regional Director
Rabbi Berel Shemtov,
Judge Rae Lee waited too long
to file its suit and
Chabot
was barred from its
legal action against the Torah Center,
its board of directors and its rabbi,
Elimelech Silberberg.
Furthermore, the judge held that the
Torah Center and its board could not
be sued to enforce the prior decision of
a Lubavitch bais din (rabbinical court)
because only Rabbi Silberberg — not
the board or synagogue — was a party
to the bais din hearings.
Because she dismissed the lawsuit
on these procedural grounds, Judge
Chabot did not have to rule on wheth-
er the Torah Center, which Chabad of
Michigan had considered to be a "ren-
egade" offshoot, is subject to the hier-
archal control of Chabad. She also did
not rule on the obligations of Rabbi
Silberberg with regards to the bais din
judgment that Chabad of Michigan
had sought to enforce.
The Torah Center filed its motion to
dismiss the lawsuit on June 11, 2012,
in lieu of formally responding to the
allegations in Chabad of Michigan's
complaint. Chabad countered with its
own motion for an immediate judg-
ment in its favor, which the judge
denied.
In its April 17, 2012, lawsuit,
Chabad of Michigan sought to enforce
an Aug. 14, 2004, bais din arbitra-
tion agreement that, on June 6, 2005,
ordered the Torah Center to turn over
the deed to its synagogue.
In her decision, Judge Chabot char-
acterized the bais din as "a common-
law arbitration" and said the six-year
Michigan statute of limitations to
enforce it began running with the initial
arbitration agreement in 2004. Chabad's
lawsuit was filed 71/2 years later.
Chabad had argued that the statute
of limitations: should not have started
running in 2004 because the bais din's
ruling had been amended as late as
2008, and Chabad was not granted
permission by religious authorities to
file suit until 2009.
If Judge Chabot's decision is not
appealed by Chabad, the case is over.
"Obviously, we're disappointed,"
said Chabad of Michigan's attorney
Norman C. Ankers of Detroit-based
Honigman Miller Schwartz & Cohn.
"Judge Chabot did not make any
ruling on the merits of the claim. She
simply ruled that the claims were
either time-barred or that the com-
plaint did not set forth causes of action
[against all the defendants].
"We expect to appeal, and we expect
to be vindicated. It doesn't matter
who's ahead in the first inning, but
who's ahead when the game's over:"
The counsel representing all the
Torah Center defendants praised the
court's ruling.
"We're elated:' said Todd R. Mendel
of Barris Son Denn & Driker in
Detroit.
"I think Judge Chabot took a good,
solid route that she thought would
withstand scrutiny by the Court of
Appeals. I think she purposefully was
very careful to try to take a road that
would lead to a justified decision."
Gilbert Borman of Bloomfield Hills,
an attorney who was in court on
another matter and heard the proceed-
ings, said afterward, "I've got friends
on the Shemtov side, and I've got
friends on the Silberberg side. I feel
very sad that they can't work it all out.
"I would ask them to find a way that
everyone could sit down with some-
body who could arbitrate this dispute.
This isn't good for Lubavitch. They're
a wonderful organization, and every
minute they waste their time in court
and fighting they're not doing good
deeds for the Jewish people.
"I look at Lubavitch as a community
treasure, and I only want good for
them and from them!'
❑