NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE
APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court."
Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the
parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R.1:36-3.
SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY
APPELLATE DIVISION
DOCKET NO. A-0750-15T2
LINDA LITTON,
Plaintiff-Respondent,
v.
YEHUDA BEN LITTON,
Defendant-Appellant.
_______________________________
Submitted December 8, 2016 – Decided February 17, 2017
Before Judges O'Connor and Whipple.
On appeal from Superior Court of New Jersey,
Chancery Division, Family Part, Ocean County,
Docket No. FM-15-1374-08.
August J. Landi, attorney for appellant.
Linda Litton, respondent pro se.
PER CURIAM
Defendant, Yehuda Ben Litton, appeals from a March 6, 2015
order denying his motion to vacate an arbitration award entered
by a rabbinical panel on December 11, 2008. We affirm.
Defendant and his wife, plaintiff, were married in August
1982 and had a son together. On January 10, 2008, a Family Part
judge entered a judgment of divorce and ordered the parties to
share joint custody of their son. The parties were directed to
proceed to arbitration before a rabbinical panel and entered into
an agreement on May 28, 2008, to engage such a rabbinical panel,
or a Beth Din. The panel consisted of three rabbis, one of whom
was Rabbi Mendel Epstein.
An arbitration award was entered on December 11, 2008, which
ordered defendant to pay plaintiff $5000 per month until he gives
her a Get.1 The award provided once plaintiff received the Get,
defendant's support obligation would be reduced to $3500 per month,
which included their son's tuition, camp expenses, and medical
coverage. The award also required defendant pay plaintiff $20,050
in arrears, pay $100,000 in plaintiff's past legal fees, and pay
plaintiff $250,000 for his refusal to disclose information about
the couple's joint funds.
Plaintiff moved for enforcement of the award. On July 28,
2009, a Family Part judge found defendant was not capable of
complying with the support order and denied plaintiff's request
to incarcerate defendant pursuant to Rule 1:10-3. The record does
1
A "Get" is a written document a husband must obtain and deliver
to his wife when entering in to a divorce. Without a Get, a wife
cannot remarry under Jewish law. Minkin v. Minkin, 180 N.J. Super.
260, 261-62, 261 n.1 (Ch. Div. 1981).
2 A-0750-15T2
not indicate whether defendant paid any of the money ordered in
the arbitration award.
In 2013, in a wholly unrelated matter, a criminal complaint
was filed in the United States District Court for the District of
New Jersey, charging Rabbi Epstein with criminal conspiracy to
threaten and coerce Jewish husbands to give Gets to their wives.
On November 13, 2013, after a child support enforcement
proceeding, a Family Part judge reduced defendant's child support
obligation from $5000 per month to $23 per week. On November 21,
2014, defendant moved to vacate the arbitration award entered by
the rabbinical panel, arguing the award was the product of
corruption. At a March 6, 2015 hearing, a Family Part judge
dismissed defendant's motion without prejudice because there was
no causal link between the parties' arbitration decision in 2008
and Rabbi Epstein's charges. Moreover, the judge stated his
decision would be no different notwithstanding Rabbi Epstein's
conviction, as there were two other rabbis on defendant's panel
not charged as part of the criminal conspiracy. This appeal
followed.
On appeal, defendant argues the trial court erred in denying
his motion to vacate the arbitration award as defendant made a
prima facie showing the award was the product of corruption. His
purported evidence of corruption included the Family Part judge's
3 A-0750-15T2
determination defendant could not afford to pay $5000 per month
and the consequent denial of plaintiff's request to incarcerate
him for non-payment, the judge's reduction in child support from
$5000 per month to $23 per week, and Rabbi Epstein's conviction.
We review the trial court's denial of a motion to vacate an
arbitration award de novo. Manger v. Manger, 417 N.J. Super. 370,
376 (App. Div. 2010). The Uniform Arbitration Act governs
arbitration awards in New Jersey, N.J.S.A. 2A:23B-1 to -32. New
Jersey favors arbitration as a means of dispute resolution and
considers an agreement to "be valid under [S]tate law unless it
violates public policy." Hojnowski v. Vans Skate Park, 187 N.J.
323, 342 (2006). Once parties agree to binding arbitration, the
role of the court is to enforce orders issued by the arbitrator,
N.J.S.A. 2A:23B-17(g); confirm an arbitration award, N.J.S.A.
2A:23B-22; correct or modify an award, N.J.S.A. 2A:23B-24; and in
only very limited circumstances, vacate an award pursuant to
N.J.S.A. 2A:23B-23. Minkowitz v. Israeli, 433 N.J. Super. 111,
134 (App. Div. 2013).
N.J.S.A. 2A:23B-23 states,
the court shall vacate an award made in the
arbitration proceeding if: (1) the award was
procured by corruption, fraud or other undue
means; (2) the court finds evident partiality
by an arbitrator; corruption by an arbitrator;
or misconduct by an arbitrator prejudicing the
4 A-0750-15T2
rights of a party to the arbitration
proceeding . . . .
The party "seeking to vacate an arbitration award bears the burden
of demonstrating 'fraud, corruption, or similar wrongdoing on the
part of the arbitrator.'" Minkowitz, supra, 433 N.J. Super. at
136 (quoting Tretina v. Fitzpatrick & Assocs., 135 N.J. 349, 357
(1994)).
Defendant has offered no proof the arbitration award decided
by the rabbinical panel was procured by fraud or corruption, or
based upon the partiality of the arbitrators. Defendant suggests,
by virtue of Rabbi Epstein's criminal conviction, the court can
"connect the dots" and infer the arbitration award in the parties'
case was fraudulently procured or corrupt. However, as the trial
judge stated, "[t]he dots are too far away and unrelated."
Defendant has not provided any evidence the arbitration award was
the product of fraud or coercion by Rabbi Epstein.
Defendant argues Rabbi Epstein had a duty to disclose the
lengths he would go to "assure wayward husbands granted GETS to
their wives." An arbitrator is under a duty to disclose to all
parties any financial or personal interest, and any existing or
past relationship with any of the parties. N.J.S.A. 2A:23B-12(a).
Additionally, if the arbitrator fails to disclose a fact as
required by N.J.S.A. 2A:23B-12(a), a court may vacate the
5 A-0750-15T2
arbitration award pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2A:23B-23. N.J.S.A.
2A:23B-12(d).
Here, defendant has not established Rabbi Epstein had a
financial or personal interest in the arbitration award. There
is no evidence plaintiff paid Rabbi Epstein to obtain a higher
arbitration award. There is also no evidence Rabbi Epstein was
unlawfully coercing husbands to give their wives Gets at the time
plaintiff and defendant engaged the rabbinical panel. According
to the Rabbi's federal criminal complaint, the first Get obtained
by corruption was in November 2009, almost a year after the
rabbinical panel decided the parties' arbitration award. Because
defendant has failed to satisfy his burden of proving the
arbitration award was procured by fraud or corruption, the motion
to vacate the arbitration award was properly denied.
Affirmed.
6 A-0750-15T2