It's nice to see that Karma-mudra is back, though it's sad to hear her story. I understand Ole's team has been threatening her with a libel lawsuit? I'm told by a lawyer who exposes abusive cults that if your posts are "factual", meaning they give time and date, location of incidents, names, and so forth, then it's not considered libel, because it's the truth. Even so, this is a very tricky matter, and often, as I think has been noted in this discussion, it's the person with the most money and the best lawyer who wins.
I've found a legal precedent for suing (and winning!) against abusive gurus. The case is documented here in the RickRoss archives, the case against Swami Rama, in which a jury awarded nearly 2 million dollars in damages to a woman who had been sexually assaulted and abused over a year or more by Swami Rama. The case was tried in 1997. Here are the charges against Swami Rama and his organization, the Himalayan Institute:
1, He abused his position of guru to obtain consent to sexual relations with the plaintiff
2. He breached his fiduciary duties inherent in his relationship between himself and the plaintiff
3. He intentionally inflicted emotional distress
4. He acted within the scope of his agency relationship with the Himalayan Institute when engaging in sexual relations with the plaintiff
The jury held both Swami Rama, as an individual, and the Himalayan Institute liable for compensatory and punitive damages in the case. The Himalayan Institute:
a) was negligent in allowing Swami Rama to be a sexual predator for years
b) its actions and inactions constituted the intentional infliction of emotional distress
c) had acted maliciously and with conscious disregard for the welfare of the plaintiff.
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So we can see here a good model for suing any lama/teacher/guru/spiritual master for abusing their authority in order to have sex with followers.
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For non-English -speakers: "Fiduciary duty" or "fiduciary trust" means that a priest or spiritual guide has a responsibility for the safety and well-being of followers while they are in the church/temple, etc. It means that the spiritual guide is legally responsible for preventing harm to the followers, they are in his care. So "breach of fiduciary duty" means that the spiritual leader has broken the bond of trust between priest and worshiper, abandoning his responsibility to the worshiper, and has acted against that responsibility. I think most countries have a law like this, probably Germany does.
If several victims of Ole could unite in bringing a lawsuit against him together, it would be a stronger case, though I think as long as victims have files from doctors or psychologists to document mental and emotional damage, anyone should be able to win such a case.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/2012 11:49AM by Misstyk.