I received a hazmanah (summons) to appear before beis din. The hazmanah did not specify the nature of the claim. I would like to prepare for the din Torah and cannot do so without knowing the nature and contents of the claim.

Q: Do I have the right to ask for details regarding the claim?

A: A hazmanah must identify to the respondent the claimant so that he may consider whether he should take action to appease the claimant and decide whether and how to respond (Ritva, M.K. 16a). Poskim debate whether the hazmanah must include the nature of the claim.

The Gemara (B.B. 31a) rules that one who discusses his case with the other litigant outside of beis din may change his claims when he makes his claim before beis din. The fact that he did not mention these new claims in previous discussions with the other litigant is not relevant, since people commonly do not reveal their real claims outside of beis din to inhibit the other litigant from being able to properly prepare his response. A litigant can even submit claims that are the diametric opposite of the claims he mentioned to the other litigant outside of beis din, provided that he did not make a binding admission (hodaah) before witnesses (C.M. 80:1 with Shach 4).

Be’er Sheva (54) and Shvus Yaakov (1:143) infer from this that a claimant is not obligated to reveal the nature of his claims to the respondent. Therefore, a respondent may not make his agreement to appear before beis din contingent on knowing the details of the claim against him.

Shach (11:1) disagrees and writes that the respondent may refuse to comply until he is informed of the details of the case. He may claim that, if informed of the nature of the claim, he may choose to pay what is owed rather than have to appear before beis din. However, if the claimant states how much he is claiming and the respondent requests more details about the origin and nature of the claim, the claimant is not obligated to divulge that information since that information could help the respondent prepare lies to deny the veracity of the claim (Urim V’tumim 13:1).

According to this opinion, the allowance for the claimant to present in beis din different claims from those that were made before he appeared in beis din does not imply that the respondent can be compelled to appear before beis din without knowing the basis of the claims against him (Chacham Tzvi 169).

Later authorities write that nowadays, although a summons may be issued without details of the claim, if the respondent refuses to appear until he is told the nature of the claim, his request is honored. This is especially true when appearing before beis din will incur expenses (Pischei Teshuvah 11:4 and Divrei Geonim 42:5).

It must be emphasized that even if a summons does not include details of the claim, one may not ignore the summons. Even if one is incapable of appearing before beis din, one must respond to the hazmanah and explain that he will not appear and why, whether it is because he insists on knowing the details of the claim or for any other reason. Ignoring a claim represents lawless behavior, and beis din is empowered to ban a person for such behavior (Aruch Hashulchan 11:2 based on Rema 11:1).