No Secular Court

from Rav Gustman, Artscroll Biography by David Page

A MARRIED STUDENT IN THE YESHIVAH HAD A DISPUTE with his neighbor about the ownership of a machsan, a basement storage unit. The neighbor had sued the student in secular court in Eretz Yisrael without bothering to take him to beis din. The only witness in the case was a woman, whose testimony favored the student. This testimony would be accepted and entirely resolve the matter in secular court but not in beis din, where the halachic guideliness regarding testimony apply. A young Rav advised the student to simply accept the summons to secular court and rely on the witness's testimony, indicating that because the neighbor had chosen secular court the student had no obligation to go to a beis din.

The talmid posed the question to R' Gustman who responded that, on the the contrary, everything should be done to convince the neighbor to litigate the case in beis din. The Rosh Yeshiva added,
"It is irrelevant whether you would be more likely to win secular court. If you would be more likely to lose in beis din, and you lose there, it is the will of Heaven that you lose.

David Page, "Rav Gustman," p. 174, Artscroll Biography of R' Yisrael Zeev Gustman, the youngest Dayan of Vilna.