Religion and fraud

[Volokh, Eugene]

        Amrit Desai claimed to be a "true and authentic guru," which
among other things involved claiming that he was celibate and ascetic.
Dushkin et al. were his disciples, who did a good deal of uncompensated
work for his community and who often contributed money to it at Desai's
urging.

        They eventually found out that, contrary to his claims about
refraining from material pursuits, he was secretly getting a good deal
of money for his guru-ing; and on top of that, contrary to his claims of
celibacy, he had engaged in a series of secret sexual relationships with
several female disciples, none of whom were a party to the litigation.
(According to plaintiffs, when in 1985 one of these woman told this to
the ashram's borard of directors, "Desai accused the woman of deceit and
mental illness, and 'prevailed on [the ashram] and its residents and
members, including each of the plaintiffs, to ostracize, expel, or
otherwise usher her out of the [ashram] community.)  When plaintiffs
found out that Desai was lying to him, they sued.

        Held:  The intentional infliction of emotional distress claims
and breach of fiduciary duty claims are dismissed, as is the breach of
contract claim which was based on the theory that plaintiffs were the
third-party beneficiaries of Desai's contract with the ashram.  But the
fraud/misrepresentation claim is not dismissed.  "Desai's
representations regarding his manner of living -- especially his
celibacy and lack of interest in material things -- concerned verifiable
facts regarding his life habits," and were material "in that they were
the kinds of representations to which potential disciples such as the
plaintiffs would attach importance in distinguishing a 'true and
authentic guru' from an ordinary layperson, or even an ordinary teacher
of yoga."  Dushkin v. Desai, 1998 WL 547072, especially *6 (D. Mass.
Aug. 27).

        I think this is the right result, and in fact is a pretty
straightforward application of neutral fraud principles, but the facts
are interesting and unusual enough that I thought I'd mention it.


Eugene Volokh, UCLA Law School
405 Hilgard Ave., L.A., CA 90095