Law School Fraud Claims Struck Down By Appeals Court

A federal appeals court sided with a lower court against law school graduates who claimed their school defrauded them by misrepresenting employment statistics. The suit was filed in February 2012 by a group of Widener Law graduates who said they were charged tuition based on inflated employment statistics. Though the Third Circuit Appeals Court sided with the federal district court judge in New Jersey who first heard the case, the reasoning was different. Whereas the district court took issue with the graduates’ suitability as a class – given that some got jobs while others didn’t, and that some proposed members enrolled after the law school had changed its employment statistics – the Third Circuit likened law school in general to a lottery ticket. “[A] lottery ticket’s actual value at sale does not retroactively plummet to zero the moment a purchaser loses or skyrocket the moment a purchaser wins,” wrote Judge Michael Chagares. “If the odds were honestly presented, all purchasers received exactly what they paid for, and neither a loser nor a winner could claim any damages. And if the odds were misrepresented, both players would have the same damages arising from the fraud – namely, they were overcharged for placing their bets.” The attorney for the plaintiffs said he was disappointed that the court did not “see that the class was damaged by inflated tuition.”