Update on Westwood Class Action
Hi All,
Sorry to be a few days late in posting these documents – things have been incredibly busy around here!
On Dec. 2, 2009, Westwood had its response brief due to our Motion for Clause Construction. This is all part of the first step of the arbitration process that Westwood chose, where we ask the arbitrator to determine whether the case is procedurally able to proceed as a class action. This step doesn’t have anything to do with the merits of the actual case, but is still very important as the School will try to stop all of the students from fighting back with a unified voice. If any of you choose to read it, you’ll see that Westwood used the opportunity to attack the arbitration process, traditional not-for-profit schools, the James Hoyer firm and even the Westwood students. As an example, Westwood even spent several pages arguing that national accreditation is actually better than regional accreditation! I’m guessing that any of you who have tried to transfer your credits, get a higher degree or even get a job probably have something different to say about that…
Claimants’ (the students) Reply was due on Dec. 9, 2009. We opted to stick to the proper legal proceedings, rather than buy into the temptation to respond to Westwood’s unrelated and inappropriate rantings. We view their response as a sign of frustration, not as an actual legal argument. There are proper standards for legal pleadings and we don’t want to compromise our professional integrity just to respond to their low (and inaccurate) blows. The time for pointing out the flaws to their arguments will certainly come, so be patient. You can click here for the Documents page with all of the briefs.
We do not ever take for granted how much faith you, as students, have put in us to help you. We take our obligations very seriously and pride ourselves in being zealous advocates for you. We have taken every step we can to continue to involve each of you in the proceedings, as this is your case. We have a phone conference with our arbitrator set up for Friday, Dec. 18 to set a time for oral arguments on the Motion for Clause Construction. I’ll post an update on here with that information as soon as it’s available. As we’ve said so many times, we’re here to help you so do not hesitate to reach out to us if you have questions, comments or concerns.
I am hoping to have an update on the separate class action lawsuit regarding Westwood College Online’s unlicensed operation in Texas. As soon as I have new information for you, I’ll post it here.
Best to you all,
Jillian
