Twin Flames Universe.com, Inc. v. Cole

528 F.Supp.3d 708

TWIN FLAMES UNIVERSE.COM, INC., et al., Plaintiffs,

v.Louise COLE, an Arizona resident; et al., Defendants.

Case No.: 20-11660

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, Southern Division.

Signed March 23, 2021

Matthew Kerry, Kerry Law PLLC, Ann Arbor, MI, for Plaintiffs.

Allen M. Wolf, Lake Orion, MI, for Defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT LOUISE COLE'S MOTION TO DISMISS PLAINTIFFS’ COMPLAINT FOR LACK OF PERSONAL JURISDICTION [#5]

GERSHWIN A. DRAIN, United States District Judge

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiffs Jeffrey and Shaleia Ayan are authors, entrepreneurs, spiritual teachers, "twin flame" to the other, and founders of Plaintiff Twin Flamesuniverse.com ("TFU"), a Michigan corporation with its principal place of business in Sutton Bay, Michigan. Plaintiffs filed the instant action against nonresident Defendants Misty Lenae Warner, Louise Cole, Gregory Abbey, and Andrea Scott alleging claims of defamation, tortious interference with contractual relations and civil conspiracy. Plaintiffs’ claims stem from the Defendants’ purported harassing social media posts and alleged false statements to a Vice Media reporter concerning Plaintiffs and their business practices. Defendants are either ex-members of Plaintiff TFU or family members of current TFU members. Defendants are from the States of Texas, Arizona, and Florida and the Country of Belgium, respectively.

Defendant Cole, an Arizona resident and mother of a current TFU member, has filed a Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction. The matter is fully briefed, and the Court held a hearing on March 3, 2021. For the following reasons, the Court will grant Defendant Cole's Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction.

II. BACKGROUND

A. TFU

TFU is a set of organizations devoted to spiritual wellness, relationship guidance, and self-love through a connection with your "Twin Flame," or your true love. ECF No. 1, PageID.2. Plaintiffs claim their work "teaches self-love, inner peace, and how to have a relationship with God" through a series of online seminars and e-courses that Mr. Ayan developed from his "unique understanding of trauma and the mind." Id. at PageID.6-7. Plaintiffs allege their online educational courses and seminars utilize Mr. Ayan's "Mind Alignment Process" to help people successfully heal from the effects of trauma. Id. Plaintiffs’ courses also teach the core " ‘Mirror Exercise’ ... empower[ing] people to love themselves completely and take full responsibility for themselves, their feelings, and one's individual experience." Id.

Plaintiffs have increased the size of TFU to roughly 10,000 members and have "business across the Internet." Id. at PageID.3, 6. Members have access to over 600 hours of online life purpose classes, including, but not limited to, Twin Flames: Dream Coming True e-Course, Twin Flames: Romance Attraction e-course, the Ayans’ book, Twin Flames: Finding Your Ultimate Lover. TFU also includes an off-shoot organization, AAC, which consists of graduates and mentors from TFU's Ascension Coach Training Program, a 13-week course, "where future coaches learn how to assist anyone through any challenge" using the fundamental TFU spiritual principles. Id. at PageID.7. TFU also includes the Church of Union, a not-for-profit religious organization which practices Unionism guided by the Ayans through their book, the Divine Revelations. Id.

B. Defendants’ Social Media Activity

Plaintiffs allege Defendants engaged in a purported conspiracy beginning in or around 2019–through their social media posts on YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit–accusing Plaintiffs of, inter alia, (a) promoting isolation and criminal behavior, such as stalking, (b) "practicing illegal psychotherapy on people," (c) engaging in "abusive" and "emotionally manipulative" conduct designed to "scam" Plaintiffs’ students, (d) forcing people into "unpaid labor," (e) dictating what people should wear, (f) violating persons privacy by posting "intimate details" about them without their consent or permission, (g) "stealing" music and engaging in copyright infringement, and (h) holding "a girl hostage in their basement." Id. at PageID.8-9.

Plaintiffs claim Defendants’ intent is to "smear Plaintiffs’ reputations, and create a false, misleading and defamatory image of Plaintiffs’ business practices and spirituality." Id. at PageID.2. Plaintiffs assert Defendants’ posts are harassing and meant to spread falsehoods in order to drive away TFU clientele and believers to the detriment of Plaintiffs’ services. Id. at PageID.8.

As for Defendant Cole, she likewise posted negative comments about TFU's practices. In September of 2019, she responded to a post on a TFU subreddit and used the terms cult and multilevel marketing scheme to describe the TFU organization. In October of 2019, in the same subreddit concerning TFU, she made the following comments:

"TWIN FLAME" Cyber Cult? Concerned for a loved one. How can you say I was rude when I absolutely called it? Everything I said is the truth. If this is so wonderful why can't you question J&S ‘teachings.’ They will turn your question around to you! You have the problem that needs to be healed, do your inner work, do the mirror exercise. That's what they will say. If something is legitimate, questions should be welcomed, not shut down. People find a mate every day without being a part of this MLM cult. Love yourself by walking away from this toxic cult. I pray for you.

"TWIN FLAME" Cyber Cult? Concerned for a loved one. You are obviously involved in it somehow. You are just as brainwashed as the rest of them. I feel bad for you.

"TWIN FLAME" Cyber Cult? Concerned for a loved one. This is indeed a cult, a multi-level marketing cult to be exact. I know firsthand as I have lost my beautiful daughter to these sick evil people who prey on lonely desperate impressionable people. They brainwash their followers to believe that they are the second coming of Christ, and since they are the chosen ones, they have all the answers anyone could want. They promise wealth, finding your Twin Flame and fame. Who wouldn't want that? That's how they suck you in, then they say the only way to achieve all this is to buy their "classes," which are a complete crock of garbage. If your loved one is in any way interested in this group, I say run! Unfortunately for me, I didn't find this out until it was too late.

Welcome to a Reddit Community dedicated entirely to TwinFlamesUniverse This is such a crock! Brianna, haven't you figured out that this is nothing more than a multilevel marketing cult? Wake up!

TwinFlamesUniverse has been created

J&S should be ashamed of themselves. They prey on lonely, desperate and impressionable people. Karma is a bitch and they will get theirs!

ECF No. 9, PageID.121.

C. February 5, 2020 VICE Media Article

Plaintiffs further claim that Defendants lied to a Vancouver based reporter for Vice Media, an online news organization. Plaintiffs assert Defendants made outlandish and false statements to the reporter in order to further amplify negativity surrounding TFU and Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs claim "[u]pon information and belief" the Defendants used the Canadian news source because Plaintiffs conducted workshops in Toronto in 2019 and in order to target current and prospective consumers in close-proximity to Canada, such as those in Southeast, Michigan. ECF No. 1, PageID.11.

On February 5, 2020, VICE Media published an article entitled, "This YouTube School Promised True Love. Students Say They Got Exploited Instead. " ECF No. 5-2, PageID.57. In the article, the author indicated TFU was "led by two glassy-eyed Michigan YouTubers[,]" who call themselves "[t]he Master Christ, eternal ruler of all creation by God's loving hand." Id. at PageID.58, 61. The Defendants interviewed for the article are either former members of TFU or parents of current TFU members.

In the article, former members of TFU claimed Plaintiffs have manipulated students into volunteering hundreds of hours of free labor, discouraged students from seeking professional mental healthcare, exploited thousands of dollars out of students, cut students off from their families unless the families sent money to Plaintiffs, and coached students to ignore rejection and escalate contact with their "twin flame." Id. at PageID.60. Defendant-former TFU members explained they invested large sums of money in Plaintiffs, including $2,222.00 for unlimited access to relationship videos, $1,899.00 for unlimited life purpose videos and roughly $200.00 per session for one-on-one work with a coach. Id. at PageID.63. Additionally, if members sold a lifetime membership worth $2,222.00, they were eligible for a 10 percent commission. Id.

Several parents of current TFU members were also interviewed for the article, including Defendant Cole. In the article, Defendant Cole described her daughter, Stephanie, as a "go-getter" who has worked in the Peace Corps and taught English overseas. ECF No. 5-2, PageID.66. Defendant Cole explained that she was under the impression her daughter was taking classes in Chinese medicine. Id. She later found out her daughter paid money to a "New Age YouTube channel" for travel, classes and accommodations. Id. Defendant Cole estimated her daughter paid as much as $5,000.00 before she cut off communication with the whole family. The article noted that two other parents shared similar stories of "scarce contact" dictated by the group. Id. Other parents, who declined to be identified, indicated they had contacted the police in Farmington Hills, Michigan to file complaints, however the police department would not confirm this information for the article. Id. at PageID.68-69.

A professor emeritus and expert on cults at California State University was also interviewed for the article. Id. at PageID.60. She told Vice that TFU "fits into a constellation of self-help and wellness cults that sell sweeping answers to life's biggest problems, and disguise thought reform and...