Town, chabad head to court

The nearly yearlong dispute between the Chabad-Lubavitch Center of Needham and the town appears to be headed from the bargaining table to the courtroom.

Last week, attorneys Robert Meltzer and Richard C. Csaplar Jr. filed a complaint in US District Court in Boston stating that the town and Building Inspector Daniel Walsh "intentionally and with malice" tried to deny the chabad center its constitutional rights to free speech and to the free exercise of religion and assembly.

The complaint was filed on behalf of Rabbi Mendel Krinsky, who is seeking $10 million in damages. The chabad is located in Krinsky's house on High Rock Street.

Csaplar said the lawsuit was prompted by a Jan. 20 letter from Walsh ordering Krinsky to cease using the house as a worship center until it receives the necessary permits and town board approvals. Walsh stated in the letter that neither he nor another qualified professional has been allowed to inspect the home to see if it meets state building and fire codes. Complying with Walsh's demand would mean closing down the center, Csaplar said.

"We feel we have exhausted all efforts and areas to bring this to a better result," Krinsky said. "I regret it didn't work out that way. We would've been a lot happier to agree to something reasonable. I didn't want to limit ourselves to something when it's just a good-will gesture. We're not doing anything against the law."

Csaplar said the town unfairly tried to curtail the center's activities over the last year by limiting the number of people who could gather there to 20 and where in the building they could worship. The lawsuit compares the center's religious gatherings to lawful residential assemblies, such as poker games and watching football on Sunday.

"They came up with a document about what they could and could not do," Csaplar said. "I eventually told [Town Administrator Kate Fitzpatrick] we're not going to enter into any agreement."

Fitzpatrick said she was instructed by legal counsel not to discuss the lawsuit.

"I sue cities and towns all the time," said Meltzer, a Framingham-based trial lawyer. "In my 12 years in this business, I've never seen the kind of pigheadedness and stubbornness in [refusing] to listen.

"It's a crusade against the rabbi; they are refusing to comply with the law. We are very, very confident what the law is and what we cannot do."

"As a son of Holocaust survivors, it's disheartening when anti-Semitism charges are thrown around loosely," said Leonard H. Kesten, an attorney and partner with Brody, Hardoon, Perkins and Kesten LLP in Boston who will represent the town and Walsh in the lawsuit.

"We're anxious to get this moving quickly," Kesten said, adding that he expected that the two sides would appear before a judge within two months and that the case could take between a year and a year and a half to resolve.

Krinsky and his attorneys say they are considering action against neighbors who have complained to town officials about parking and illegal remodeling.

"I think they can expect that," Meltzer said. "The neighbors tend to have a misconception about what property can and cannot be used for."

Csaplar said neighbors have harassed worshipers as they entered and left the center, taking their photos, asking them questions such as "Why are you here?" and trying to get head counts. He also said a neighbor parked a large truck and trailer in front of Krinsky's home in January for 11 days straight in an effort to annoy and disrupt religious services and instruction inside.

"Everyone on this street is very upset," said Wayne Anastasia, who lives next door to the center. Anastasia denied that neighbors are harassing worshipers, saying that he and others are often approached for directions to the center.

Anastasia acknowledged that he and other neighbors photographed parked cars and people renovating Krinsky's house. The residents did so after the town responded to their initial complaints by requesting substantiation.

Anastasia said he parked the truck and trailer in front of Krinsky's house as a way of demonstrating what the neighbors were contending with.

"He and his lawyers have transformed it into bigotry, which it isn't," Anastasia said. "He wants to be a business in a residential area and he didn't go through the right channels. He feels this Dover Amendment allows him to say '[too bad for] everyone else.' "

The amendment is a state law that prohibits zoning restrictions in residential areas on the use of property for religious and educational institutions.

Anastasia said neighbors are primarily concerned that additional traffic and parking on their road is posing safety hazards, that remodeling work to the chabad is being done without the permits other homeowners would be required to obtain, and that Krinsky may be using a private home as a business.

"People who complain or raise issues are protected," said Kesten, referring to a state statute designed to shield citizens from retaliatory lawsuits called Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation. "That threat is an empty one."

Meltzer said the lawsuit could cost Needham taxpayers at least $250,000 or more to defend. "It's a long, divisive process. The question the Needham government needs to be asking itself is: 'Is this a good use of their resources?' "

Kesten disputed that claim. "I don't anticipate this'll cost anywhere near that," said Kesten, adding that because the town is part of the Massachusetts Intralocal Insurance Association, a statewide insurance pool, taxpayers would not foot any legal bills.

Some hope the matter can be resolved outside the courtroom like a similar conflict that erupted in Newton last year.

"Our view would be to get all the parties in a room and have an opportunity to have a real discussion," said Robert Liekind, regional director of the New England Anti-Defamation League. Liekind was not aware of the Needham chabad conflict but said the ADL would be willing to help mediate if asked to by either party.

Meltzer is confident the case will go Krinsky's way. "My feeling is when you have someone like Rabbi Krinsky [who wants to be] simply left alone, the town is under obligation to leave him alone."