Judgment entered against David Lynch's foundation and Chicago school board in US Federal Court

One of the three civil cases brought against the David Lynch Foundation and the Board of Education of the City of Chicago has reached its conclusion, with judgments against both the DLF and the Board.

Quoting the court:

(1) Judgment is entered in favor of plaintiff Mariyah Green and against defendant Board of Education of the City of Chicago in the amount of $75,000. This is inclusive of any and all relief available to the plaintiff in this case against the Board including all types of damages; attorney’s fees; costs; interest; and litigation expenses. (2) Judgment is entered in favor of plaintiff Mariyah Green and against defendant David Lynch Foundation in the amount of $75,000. This is inclusive of any and all relief available to the plaintiff in this case against the Foundation including all types of damages; attorney’s fees; costs; interest; and litigation expenses.

While it appears that the attorney for Lynch's foundation and various TM organizations believed that such a lawsuit would likely immediately be dismissed by any court before which it was brought, the initial case against the DLF, the Board and initially, the University of Chicago, which spawned two others including this one, has dragged on since October 2020 and may be settled in the next few weeks. The other spawned case is still in progress.

This outcome should give responsible individuals in any government agency in the United States, or private entities funded by governments, second thoughts before teaming up with Lynch or any other TM promoting organization. The consequences may be rather expensive.

(For a summary of the claims at issue in these cases, see my earlier post at Reddit.)

The Transcendental Meditation Teaching Agreement

Here, for the first time online (as far as I know), is an agreement that prospective meditators were required to sign before receiving instruction in how to practice Transcendental Meditation.

This particular document likely dates from the mid-1990's, though there is no date or number on the form to confirm that. I think it likely that this, or some very similar agreement, is still being used as one of the forms that teachers of TM expect to have signed by the student before proceeding.

As I mentioned in my previous post here on this subject ("What did you sign when you started TM?", November 14, 2018), teachers of Transcendental Meditation have been instructed to not allow these forms to leave with the meditator who signed them, nor would you have an opportunity to take some time, at home, overnight, with your attorney if you want to, to review the agreement and fully understand what it says before going through with TM instruction. This unwillingness to disclose the contents of these agreements to those who have signed them has historically extended all the way through the teacher training course, as was documented in this letter from a TM teacher/attorney in 1995.

I am not an attorney and anything I write below does not constitute legal advice.

My discussion and comments on this agreement follow below the image, click through on it to see it full size. Here's a pdf version.

What did you sign when you started TM?

In the course of sorting through some contributed TM-related materials and doing a bit of research, I came across two interesting items that apparently date from the mid-1990's.

The first of these are one page agreement forms, that prospective meditators had to sign before proceeding with TM instruction, and also another version that applied to instruction in an "advanced technique" of TM. The two agreements are basically identical, with the same six numbered clauses, the only difference is that the second agreement also refers to the advanced technique.

The other is a reference in another document, that states that TM teachers are not, under any circumstances, to provide prospective meditators with a copy of the agreement that they must sign to receive instruction.

I was instructed in the mid-1970's and I don't recall seeing such a thing go by at that time, there was the basic intake form with a small statement at the bottom that had to be signed, but there was nothing this elaborate or legalistic, as far as I can remember, that needed my signature. The same was true upon receiving a so-called "advanced technique" in the early 1980's.

What documents were you required to sign when you started TM, or when you received instruction in an advanced technique or some other program offered by the same organization(s)?

Were you offered a copy of whatever you signed, or did you ask for a copy and were refused?

Inquiring minds want to know more, particularly when it comes to current practice and with the involvement of the David Lynch Foundation in attempting to promote the teaching of TM in public schools and other venues where the contents of such agreements may be an issue.

Since I know the question will come up, the unanimous answer provided by many credible online sources is that, no, you don't have to be provided a copy of a legal agreement for it to be valid; the fact that you signed it makes it a valid agreement. Though a lot of us would think it's rather sleazy, or indicative of the fact that people may have second thoughts later about what they're getting involved in, to not freely provide a copy of agreements that people are required to sign before they participate in an activity.