akuperma………..
“1. While frum Jews rarely sue each other in a non-Jewish court, it does happen when a third party is involved (e.g. the insurance company in a state with “fault” insurance, or in bankruptcy when a third party assumes a claim);”
Actually, I have found in my years of practice that when there are frum Jews on both the Plaintiff and Defendant sides of the courtroom, it is NOT one frum Jew suing another Frum Jew, but one or both parties in the lawsuit are actually corporations. The frum Jews tend to either be principals in the corporations or agents for the corporation.
While individual Jews suing another Jew are supposed to make use of the Beis din, corporations are not necessarily bound to do so.
In divorce work, I recommend a beis din when both husband and wife are Jewish, and then have the secular court ratify the decision/agreement of the BD. I feel no obligation to force use of a BD when a Jew is suing a corporation that may be owned (in part or full) by a Jew(s).