in Newswire Published on November 29, 2018

Former Students File Class Action Lawsuit Against Mount Ida College, Trustees After School’s Sudden Closure [UPDATE: DISMISSED]

Last Updated on May 29, 2019

Squeri et al. v. Mount Ida College et al.

Filed: November 26, 2018 ◆§ 1:18-cv-12438

Three former Mount Ida College students have sued the defunct school and its trustees after the Massachusetts institution abruptly closed in May 2018.

Defendant(s)

Mount Ida College The Mount Ida College Board of Trustees

Law(s)

State(s)

Massachusetts

May 29, 2019 – Lawsuit Dismissed for Failure to State Claim

The Boston Herald reports that the proposed class action detailed on this page has been dismissed due to the plaintiffs’ failure to adequately plead each of their claims.

In addition to ruling the plaintiffs failed to establish that their privacy was violated when Mount Ida disclosed their student records to UMass Dartmouth, U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns, with regard to the claims of fraud, negligent misrepresentation and fraudulent inducement, agreed with the defendant’s argument that the plaintiffs failed to identify any statement that could have been shown to actually be false.

To the plaintiffs’ claim that the defendants intentionally concealed that the school was facing financial hardship, Judge Stearns pointed out that Mount Ida’s publicly available audited financial disclosures show the institution operated at a deficit since 2015.

“Even assuming Mount Ida’s looming insolvency was material and concealed by defendants, plaintiffs fail to allege an actionable duty to disclose, including … any breach of a fiduciary duty,” Judge Stearns wrote.

As for the plaintiffs’ breach of contract claim, Judge Stearns wrote that they failed “to identify, among other things, the specific terms of the purported contract, when it was formed, and who negotiated it.”

“Merely paying tuition in exchange for an education does not create a contract,” the dismissal order reads.

Three former Mount Ida College students have filed a proposed class action lawsuit against the now-defunct Massachusetts institution, its board of trustees, and four school representatives. The plaintiffs argue in the 21-page case that the college’s abrupt closure in May 2018 was catastrophic to students who were suddenly faced not only with finding alternative schools to which they might be able to transfer, but uncertainty with regard to the transferring of credits and the loss of scholarships and other financial aid.

“This could have been avoided,” according to the lawsuit. “Yet, by closing abruptly, Mount Ida denied its students the opportunity to continue with their bargained for [sic] education, and their actions prevented some students from enrolling in other institutions of higher education or pursuing their intended degrees altogether.”

The suit points out that the chairwoman of Mount Ida’s board of trustees testified under oath that she was aware of the financial troubles that ultimately led to the school’s shuttering as far back as 2014. Despite what the plaintiffs claim were “several opportunities” to do so, none of the defendants disclosed Mount Ida’s money problems to proposed class members, the case says, a tactic the lawsuit describes as an intentional omission.

“In other words,” the complaint reads, “the Defendants intentionally concealed the truth from its students because they knew their students would seize this information and ultimately make an informed decision to enroll elsewhere, seek a transfer, or take some other action to avoid being harmed by the school’s inevitable closure.”

At one time, a merger deal between Mount Ida College and Lasell College was in the works, the case adds, but according to the plaintiffs, the defendants, rather than disclose the financial problems behind the potential merger, chose instead to issue “numerous false representations,” including the claim that the merger aimed to “strengthen and consolidate” Mount Ida and Lasell’s institutional positions.

After the deal between Mount Ida and Lasell went belly up, the case says, the defendants agreed to sell Mount Ida’s land to UMass and close the school. This arrangement saw the funneling of Mount Ida students into non-party UMass Dartmouth, which the lawsuit says was illegally provided with “sensitive student financial and academic information” somehow stipulated as part of the land acquisition deal.

“In effect, Mount Ida sold its students, at a discount, to UMass Dartmouth, as an incentive in the land transaction,” the complaint states.

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