Chabad Lubavitch of Western & Southern New England, Inc. v. Shemtov, 349 Conn. 695

Chabad Lubavitch of Western and Southern New England, Inc. (Plaintiff) sought to recover possession of certain property occupied by Rabbi Moshe Shemtov, Chabad of Stamford, Inc., and Gan Yeladim of Stamford, Inc. (Defendants) via a summary process action.
Rabbi Yisrael Deren, founder and former president of Plaintiff, transferred his role as shliach (religious emissary) of Stamford to Shemtov in 2014, but the transfer did not explicitly mention the property at issue.
After their relationship soured and Shemtov stopped making mortgage payments, Deren attempted to remove Shemtov and evict Defendants.
Deren and Shemtov entered into an arbitration agreement, binding their dispute to be arbitrated before a Bais Din (Jewish rabbinical court), covering all issues, including property ownership and financial obligations.
The Bais Din ruled on various issues, but when summoned to adjudicate property ownership after three years, Deren did not participate, instead seeking permission from another tribunal to sue in civil court.
Plaintiff filed a summary process action; the trial court initially found the parties were bound to arbitrate but later denied a stay for arbitration and awarded possession to Plaintiff. Defendants appealed this denial.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Enforceability of Arbitration	Plaintiff is not bound to the arbitration agreement; it was not a party to the agreement.	Plaintiff is bound—Deren signed and acted as Plaintiff's rep, covering all disputes.	Plaintiff is bound; Deren had authority to bind Plaintiff as representative.
Scope of Arbitration	Dispute over possession is not covered by arbitration agreement.	All disputes, including possession and payment, must go to Bais Din.	Dispute falls within scope of agreement—must be arbitrated.
Stay of Proceedings	Proceedings should continue in civil court; arbitration is not pending.	Action should be stayed pending arbitration.	Court erred in denying stay. Proceedings must be stayed for arbitration.
Resolution by Civil Court	Civil court has jurisdiction over landlord-tenant disputes.	Civil court should abstain due to ecclesiastical abstention and agreement.	Not decided; case resolved on arbitration issue.

MSO, LLC v. DeSimone, 313 Conn. 54 (Connecticut Supreme Court establishes review structure for arbitration enforcement)
State v. Philip Morris, Inc., 289 Conn. 633 (Intent of parties controls arbitrability)
Nussbaum v. Kimberly Timbers, Ltd., 271 Conn. 65 (Strong Connecticut policy favoring arbitration)
Coppola Construction Co. v. Hoffman Enterprises Ltd. Partnership, 309 Conn. 342 (Implied and apparent authority to bind non-signatories to contracts)
Rund v. Melillo, 63 Conn. App. 216 (Evidence supports binding both individuals and corporate entities to contract)