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Judge Hands Chabad another Hey Teves Victory

Today, Hey Teves, a United States District Court Judge handed Aguc”h, Merkos, Rabbis Krinsky and Friedman another Didan Notzach in a lawsuit brought against them by Zalman Chanin of Vaad L’hafotzas Sichos, Inc.. The lawsuit seeks $21 million among countless other claims which include barring Kehot from printing the Likkutei Sichos.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court by Zalman Chanin as Vaad L’hafotzas Sichos back in September of 2011, named both Agudas Chassidei Chabad and Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch collectively, as well as Rabbi Chaim Yehuda Krinsky and Rabbi Yossef Friedman personally. The lawsuit has been stalled for many months due to a dispute between the parties regarding discovery.

Chanin sought to compel Merkos to turn over an abundance of information along with giving access to records that had no relevance to the case. Chanin also sought to have the judge place a restraining order on the case and force details to remain confidential, an attempt to prevent information on the case from reaching the public.

On August 17 2012 Magistrate Judge James Orenstein summarily denied all of Chanin’s demands, agreeing with Merkos that the demands were “voluminous” and “overbroad” and not relevant to the case.

Unhappy with this ruling Chanin attempted to appeal this ruling to Judge Frederic Block, who today – Hey Teves – upheld Magistrate Judge Orenstein original ruling. The judge said in his decision that “[the] defendants have indicated they are more than willing to work with plaintiffs to conduct additional, narrowly tailored searches, and the Court fully believes that any future disputes are capable of being resolved by the parties without further judicial intervention.”

Click Here to read the decision

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22 Comments

  • CH-er

    Please don’t disrespect the Didan Notzach of the Rebbe by comparing the outcome of a political dispute with it!! The Rebbe is the Rebbe and politics is politics.

  • Shlome Seldowitz

    I was very disappointed that crownheight.org printed this headline, “Judge Hands Chabad another Hey Teves Victory”.

    Zalman Chanin of Vaad L’hafotzas Sichos is also Chabad.

    The fact that Kehos won this dispute is no surprize: the Previous writes in a letter that Kehos is not to be hampered with. And Rabbis C. Yehudah Krinsky and Yossi Hakohen Friedman are clearly the legitimate leaders of Kehos.

    The article says that Vaad L’hafotzas Sichos is an “Inc.”. I may be inorrect but I understand that an “Inc.” is a for-profit corporation, and not a non-for-profit corporation. Is Kehos too a for-profit corporation?

  • Stam a question

    Chanin and the vaad have brought a case against the Rebbe’s three mosdos and did in the name of “all Chabad chassidim.”

    Probably funded by Sam.

    So where are the big Chassidim?

  • another hey teves neis

    Emes will always win over Shekker, even if things look dark. Maybe Zalman Chanin will now remember his ancestry and will behave as a chasid should.

  • Attorney

    This is a victory for Merkos, but this ruling only involves a discovery dispute. For those who don’t know what this means, it means the case is not dismissed. The judge simply agreed that the Magistrate Judge (a lower level judge) was correct in ruling that Chanin was not entitled to all those documents. The case will continue, unless the parties settle (like that’s gonna happen).

  • Chanin not Chabad

    Zalman remembers his anssetary hence the case.

    I can’t wait to see how his grand kids will act.

    We already know how his kids behave

  • Yossi

    To #2:

    Inc means Incorporated, both for profits and not for profits are incorporated as legal entities in the states they exist.

  • BCH

    Oh p-l-e-a-s-e! This a meaningless procedural ruling, not a ruling on the merits of the case. Chanin’s lawyers overreached (probably on purpose just to make things as difficult as possible for the other side) and asked for an huge and impossibly broad amounts of documents in ‘discovery’. The courts simply said ‘no’ to that.

    Hardly a ‘victory’…

  • David H

    I learned to never underestimate a CH BOY. i went recently to dominican republic (sat first class) and this guy named Antonio sees my kippa and tells me i remind him of a Jew he knows Sam Chanin, it turns out in 2005 sam and this guy bought largest undeveloped beach front property in Dominican Republic and hes telling me a south african casino magnate is trying to buy the space for 25Million, later in flight this Antonio guy was drunk enough to tell me this Sam guy owns 75% of the property that would make him worth 20 mill..i did not see a reason for him to lie??!

  • haha

    If u read the ruling you’ll c that its a minor detail which I’m sure they knew was a long shot to get but did it bc why not… Its nothing even close to a victory!!!

  • Sad

    Lubavitchers against each other is a Didan Notzach? It is something to cry about! No wonder we got a rainbow over us (see news item)
    Moshiach NOWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

  • chaim

    I am fed up with chabad and chabad chassidim putting the rebbe involved with these lawsuits. They do not reflect the majority of chabad chassdim on both sides of these arguments. millions of dollars which are donated to ‘chabad” to help anash, shluchim and chabad house have been wasted.

  • wait a sec

    mitch shapiro – this “lawyer” representing chanin is partners with ZAKI TAMIR http://shapirotamirlaw.com/
    PLEASE someone explain to me how we sit by quietly as the rosh hakohol teams up with tamir to sue CH organizations in goyishe court. what the hell is going on? zaki tamir and mitch shapiro are working together under sam chanins broken promises. oy vai

    • pashuter yid

      they are partners, but if you look at their separate sites they just share a firm. they practice separately. tamir is not necessarily in on this case.

  • Discovery WAS the strategy

    This case never had merits in the first place.

    They thought that there may be some embarrassing things in discovery and that is what this case was about.

  • Shlome Seldwitz

    To: 6. Chanin not Chabad wrote:

    I don’t think that it’s right to infer things upon someone because of the behavior of the children.

    Many kids rebel for awhile, and become fine Chassidishe people later in life.

    Children that rebel or go off the derech is not an issue to point to their parents. This sad thing happens to people on both sides of the fence. Grow up, and get a life!

  • Shame on Zaki Tamir

    To # 16. It is a travesty that Tamir works with Shapiro. Shapiro is a ruthless attorney who enjoys destroying our community. Zaki Tamir is proud to work with such a person. Tamir should step down from his position as “Rosh Hakohol”

  • response to SHAME ON ZAKI

    it is correct to call Mitchell Shapiro a ruthless lawyer. but it is not correct to say he is destroying the community.

    in addition to being a ruthless lawyer, he is someone who uses ruthless tactics against evil in order to bring justice.

    he continues to fight for the existance of the Maple Street Shul against a group of people who want to destroy it for the sake of destruction. the case is boring, stupid and a waste of time – and without Shapiro, the only Shul where the Rebbe is a member, would have been destroyed by now… obviously the Shul where the Rebbe is a member cannot be destoryed by anyone – but it is Shapiro who is the Shliach to defend the Shul.