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May a Beis Din Refuse to Grant Claimant Zabla?

Question:

As a new olah and because of its reputation for lomdus, I selected a Beis Din in E”Y having dayanim who speak English. The defendant in my case wishes to use another Beis Din which is solely Hebrew speaking, and which indicates that it will NOT conduct a zabla at all. My questions: 1. May Beis Din refuse to conduct a zabla? 2. If Beis Din may so refuse zabla, who is responsible for resolving a stalemate? Many thanks.

Answer:

Answer from Horav Y. Fleishman shlit”a

I think thhere is a bit of confusion here – zabla is a particular way to do a din Torah where each party selects one dayan and the two dayanim select the third. When you go to beis din the three dayanim who sit on the case are three dayanim who are members of the particular beis din. In general the defendant has the right to select the beis din-if it is a reputable beis din which has no connection to him-totally impartial. If you don’t know Hebrew perhaps you can ask that the defendant select only a beis din where the dayanim do know English.

 

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