At first, when you come to know that there have actually been three University of Metaphysical Sciences Lawsuits, one after the other, from 2017 to 2025, then you must be thinking that somebody had to be at fault, right? But nah, that’s not the case actually, you see, this is much more about competition than about solving the legal matters. Let’s get to know it a little better here.
First Of All, Let’s Get To Know The University Of Metaphysical Sciences (UMS)
If you know a thing or two about this case, then you might already know that UMS is kinda a spiritually oriented institution that was established back in 2004 and works or operates without profit. That’s the core of it all, actually! As for what students can study or what kind of courses they can enroll in, see, the school offers courses in meditation, metaphysical counseling, energy healing, and a wide range of other spiritual disciplines.
Who Was Suing Them?
See, so far, yes, there have been multiple cases filed against them, and sure enough, every single suit was filed by the International Metaphysical Ministry (IMM). Besides the University of Metaphysics and the University of Sedona, both in Sedona, Arizona, they run two other spiritual schools.
What Started All The Legal Drama?
To be precise here, MM has sued UMS 3 times from 2017 to 2025. Each of these cases touches on something a little different, like how UMS was infringing on trademarks, how it was running Google ads under its name, and things like that. So no doubt, when two big institutions are involved, things had to end up in court, and that’s precisely what happened.
The 2017 Case (First Round)
This entire matter started out back in 2017 when it was the first time that in Arizona, IMM brought a suit against UMS. Why? That was to close UMS websites and put a ban or stop on their advertising methods. But when the jurisdiction was changed to California in this case, it was dismissed in the end. No court hearing, no settlement, nothing further.
The 2021 Case (Round Two)
Several years down the line, well, once again, IMM decided to sue the company again with similar allegations. And this time, when UMS provided proper records of their Google ads, you know, just to show that they didn’t violate anything, so that was when the court had to throw out this case again.
The 2022 Case (The Last One)
In 2021, when the case was already thrown out by the court, the IMM side wasn’t happy about it all, so just the next year, in 2022, they brought one more case talking about the same thing, which is of course the online advertising. But, in some time, like two years passed and by 2024, the judge decided to grant summary judgments in favor of UMS. Essentially, the court found that there was hardly any evidence and therefore, it didn’t even consider a full trial necessary.
Therefore, the lawsuit was terminated with prejudice on the 12th of May, 2025. Finished and closed. Once again, no trial, no hearings, no settlement, NO NOTHING!
Why Did This Even Happen?
You see, in our opinion, and as per what people largely think about this matter, see, from all publicly available information, it looks like a competition scandal between two similar schools. That’s pretty much it, like, IMM probably thought that UMS was taking over their online presence; however, the courts did not find any wrongdoing on the part of UMS. Not even one time. UMS argued that these legal actions were only efforts to restrain competition, whereas they were concentrating only on delivering their programs and helping students.
