Dushkin v. Desai, Civil Action No. 97-30143-MAP.
| Decision Date | 27 August 1998 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 97-30143-MAP. |
| Citation | 18 F.Supp.2d 117 |
| Parties | Dr. Ron DUSHKIN, Mary Ellen Stout, David Milam, Jordan Blank, Nina Segal, Dr. Jeff Migdow, Michael Penny, Deva Parnell, Alex Monroe, Noel Abbott, Russell Poole, Anna Poole, Meg Connor and Thomas Amelio, Plaintiffs, v. Amrit DESAI, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts |
John Traficonte, Boston, MA, for Plaintiffs.
Diane E. DeGiacomo, Cain, Hibbard, Myers & Cook, Pittsfield, MA, for Defendant.
MEMORANDUM REGARDING DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS
Fourteen former "disciples" of self-proclaimed yoga guru Amrit Desai have brought this suit against their former leader for losses suffered when Desai was (according to their allegations) revealed to be a charlatan.
Plaintiffs resided and labored for many years at the Kripalu Ashram, a yoga retreat center in Lenox, Massachusetts, where Desai, the plaintiffs' revered spiritual leader, presented himself as a "true and authentic guru." Compl. ¶ 62. Plaintiffs devoted themselves to emulating Desai, who promoted a celibate and ascetic lifestyle to which he himself outwardly proclaimed to adhere.
Plaintiffs now bring myriad tort, contract, and unfair trade practice claims against defendant, seeking to recover damages for the emotional distress, mental anguish, and other losses sustained by them when defendant was exposed as a fraud. Defendant has moved to dismiss the suit in its entirety.
For the reasons stated below, the court will allow defendant's motion in part and deny it in part.
In reviewing defendant's Motion to Dismiss, the court will accept all well-pleaded factual allegations as true, and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiffs. Carparts Distrib. Ctr. v. Automotive Wholesaler's Ass'n, 37 F.3d 12, 14 (1st Cir.1994). The motion may be granted only if there is no set of facts or theory, consistent with the allegations, upon which the plaintiff can recover. Chapin v. University of Massachusetts, 977 F.Supp. 72, 75 (D.Mass.1997).
Plaintiffs' complaint alleges the following facts.
After coming to the United States in the 1960s to study at the Philadelphia College of Art, defendant Amrit Desai formed the Kripalu Yoga Ashram, a small intentional living community, sometime in 1974. Desai appointed himself as the Kripalu Ashram's "guru," or spiritual leader. The ashram included approximately twenty resident members and operated a small public center for the purpose of teaching yoga. In the late 1970s, Desai's ashram became a Pennsylvania nonprofit charitable corporation called the Kripalu Yoga Fellowship ("KYF").
In 1983, KYF moved to a 350-acre site in Lenox, Massachusetts. KYF began to operate a large-scale retreat center for holistic health and education at the Lenox site, which contained several large facilities that housed up to 500 people. Over 15,000 paying guests per year visited KYF "to relax, take yoga classes, meditate, have massages, and otherwise take a break from the routine of their daily lives." Compl. ¶ 20. Approximately 250 resident members of the ashram (including the plaintiffs) operated the facility, working for room and board and a small monthly stipend in exchange for the opportunity to live at the Kripalu Ashram as Desai's "disciples."
Plaintiffs allege that the resident members, paying guests, and KYF donors were attracted to the facility precisely because of Desai's presence. Desai's picture hung throughout the facilities, his videos ran continuously in the public areas, and his books, tapes, and other items were offered for sale by KYF.
Publicly, Desai claimed to be an authentic guru—a "teacher and object of veneration" who attains his status in part through several forms of abstinence, including refraining from sexual activity and material pursuits. See Pls.' Opp'n at 3. Desai outwardly professed to live the proper life of an authentic guru, which he identified as demanding "honesty, selfless devotion to the well-being of his followers," and "absolute personal trust" between guru and followers, in addition to celibacy and commitment to a non-material, physically and financially simple lifestyle. See Compl. ¶ 24. As resident guru at KYF, he conducted a combination of life counseling, spiritual leadership, and health and educational services. See Compl. 23.
Plaintiffs characterize Desai as cultivating in his followers an intense emotional dependence. The plaintiffs, as "disciples," were told to identify themselves and their well-being with Desai's personality and integrity, and to regard Desai as the most important person in their lives. Desai deemed himself the plaintiffs' "personal life counselor," Compl. ¶ 29, and frequently offered guidance with respect to the most intimate aspects of the plaintiffs' personal lives. Id. Plaintiffs state that over many years, each of them developed a "close and deeply personal relationship" with Desai. Id. ¶ 31.
Plaintiffs claim that during their years at the ashram they strove to emulate Desai's professed lifestyle, in that they endeavored to be celibate or chaste, honest, selfless, and devoted to the well-being of others, within the framework of a simple, non-material way of life. In addition, on numerous occasions, Desai allegedly urged the plaintiffs to donate literally all of their possessions to KYF. One plaintiff claims to have donated more than $30,000, and another more than $100,000 in earnings to KYF upon Desai's instruction.
Behind his carefully cultivated image, plaintiffs charge, Desai was in fact a fraud. Plaintiffs' complaint alleges that, from the 1970s until 1994, KYF entered into a series of lucrative contractual relationships with Desai, the purpose of which was "to induce Desai to remain physically present at KYF, teaching yoga courses, meeting with guests and visitors, serving as advisor, mentor and exemplar to the residents," Compl. ¶ 25, and performing the role of guru at KYF.1 In exchange, Desai, as an independent contractor, received an annual fee, free housing, free transportation (both domestic and international), a percentage of the proceeds from literature, video, and audiotape sales, and free sponsorship of Desai's seminars throughout the world, all revenue from which he retained. Plaintiffs aver that Desai secretly received payments and benefits from KYF totaling many hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Moreover, between 1974 and 1994, Desai engaged in a series of secret sexual relationships with several female "disciples" in the KYF community (none of whom is a party to this litigation). Plaintiffs assert that these relationships, like his material self-enrichment, were deliberately concealed by Desai in order to preserve his reputation as a true and authentic guru. In 1985, a woman apparently revealed to KYF officers and directors that Desai had had abusive sexual relations with her. Desai accused the woman of deceit and mental illness, and "prevailed on KYF and its residents and members, including each of the plaintiffs, to ostracize, expel, or otherwise usher her out of the KYF community." Compl. ¶ 47. In 1994, another woman brought similar accusations against Desai, at which time he publicly admitted to some past sexual activities. In an audiotaped statement, Desai apologized for his behavior and acknowledged that it had caused his disciples much emotional pain and suffering. KYF ended its contractual relationship with Desai, who moved to Florida. The Kripalu Ashram still operates in Lenox, Massachusetts, but without any connection to Desai.
Plaintiffs have brought a five-count complaint against Desai, including claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress; breach of fiduciary duty; breach of contract on a third party beneficiary theory of recovery; fraud and misrepresentation; and unfair and deceptive trade practices in violation of Mass.Gen.Laws ch. 93A. For the reasons set forth below, the court will deny the motion with respect to the fraud claim and the statutory claim for unfair trade practices. The other counts, which will be addressed first, are unsupportable as a matter of law and will be dismissed.
Count Three of plaintiffs' complaint alleges that Desai intentionally inflicted emotional distress on the plaintiffs by representing himself as a true and authentic guru, yet engaging in clandestine, abusive sexual activities with members of his own ashram, lying about his celibacy, and driving out of the KYF community one of his female accusers. Plaintiffs claim to have suffered emotional distress and mental anguish as a result of defendant's actions.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court established the now-familiar elements of a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress in Agis v. Howard Johnson Co., 371 Mass. 140, 355 N.E.2d 315 (1976). The plaintiff must show: 1) that the actor intended to inflict emotional distress or that he knew or should have known that emotional distress would result from his conduct; 2) that the conduct was extreme and outrageous, beyond all bounds of decency and utterly intolerable in a civilized community; 3) that the defendant's conduct caused the plaintiff's distress; and 4) that the plaintiff's emotional distress was severe. Id. at 144-45, 355 N.E.2d 315; Haddad v. Gonzalez, 410 Mass. 855, 871, 576 N.E.2d 658 (1991).
Plaintiffs' claim founders on the second element of the Agis test; the allegations simply do not set forth sufficiently "extreme and outrageous" conduct to state a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Plaintiffs concede that promiscuity and brazen lies about one's chastity may not amount to "extreme and outrageous" conduct in all settings. Instead, plaintiffs underscore the unique context of the KYF community, and argue that the defendant's behavior "flouted precisely the values and aspirations devotion to which drew members into an...
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