Ilchi Lee - Controversy

Controversy

In 2005, a wrongful death lawsuit was filed against Lee and other defendants, which alleged that Julia Siverls, a 41 year old Dahn Yoga Center member, died a heat-related death during a training hike in 2003 as a result of defendants' wrongful acts.

On November 13, 2006, after more than four months of discovery, the Court dismissed all claims against all non-resident defendants including Lee. The Court's Order indicates that "Plaintiffs fail to connect any transaction of business by Lee to plaintiffs' causes of action. There is no evidence that Dr. Siverls-Dunham's death, or even her presence in Arizona, arose out of a transaction of business by Lee." On August 1, 2008, the claims against the remaining two defendants were also dismissed with no fault found.

In Barba et al. v. Lee et al. (Case No. CV-09-1115-PHX-SRB) filed in May, 2009, 27 former members and employees of Dahn Yoga sued Ilchi Lee, Dahn Yoga and other defendants in the State of Arizona for fraud, undue influence, unfair and deceptive business practice, emotional distress, wage and hour law violation and civil RICO. In this case, Dahn Yoga filed counterclaims against the plaintiffs in September, 2010.

On September 9, 2011, after more than 10 months of discovery without appropriate responses to defendants' discovery requests, Ryan Kent, the attorney for the plaintiffs filed a motion to withdraw as attorney of record for plaintiffs. In his declaration accompanying the motion, Kent stated that "At the time, based upon the information in my possession and the nature of the plaintiffs' claims, I believed it was probable this matter would settle prior to protracted litigation. As it turns out, I was mistaken in this belief." The motion was granted, and the remaining plaintiffs are currently continuing the case pro se.

On January 30, 2012, the United States District Court for the District of Arizona ruled to dismiss five plaintiffs for failure to properly appear in Court. On April 6, 2012, the Court dismissed four plaintiffs for failure to prosecute. On May 17, 2012, one more plaintiff was dismissed by the Court for failure to prosecute and violation of court order. Among the plaintiffs who were not dismissed, fifteen have withdrawn them in anticipation of being faced with the defendants' counterclaims and difficult challenges in meeting their discovery requirements, and settled the case by mutual release. No money was paid to any of the plaintiffs by any defendants in any of the settlements. On the other hand, a Judgment was entered against four of the dismissed plaintiffs awarding defendants $11,072.07 in litigation costs. The lawsuit is ongoing as to two plaintiffs.

Former plaintiff Alana Lee, before dismissal of her case, signed a Declaration virtually contradicting the plaintiffs' claims. The Declaration indicates that (1) she benefited from Dahn Yoga programs, (2) the Dahn Yoga community includes many nice and honorable people, (3) many other people also benefited from Dahn Yoga programs, and (4) the decisions on her part to participate in and remain in Dahn Yoga were voluntary and were based upon by her own free will without undue influence.

On August 25, 2010, in the case Barba et al. v. Lee et al., the Court dismissed Jessica Harrelson's claims of alleged sexual assault by Mr. Lee, as she had already exceeded the 2-year statute of limitations. Harrelson filed the same claims in the State of Massachusetts, which has a 3-year statute of limitations (Case 1:09-cv-11714-RGS). On January 31, 2012, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted Lee's motion to reconsider and dismissed Harrelson's case. The Court's Order indicates that "Lee filed a motion to reconsider ...... providing the court with a number of exhibits that tended to disprove, or at the very least, shed serious doubt, on Harrelson's substantive claims."