Supreme Court Decision on Stolt-Nielsen and Status of Class Action

The United States Supreme Court released their decision in Stolt-Nielsen, S.A. v. AnimalFeeds International on April 27, 2010.  In a 5-3 opinion (Justice Sotomayor did not participate), the Court ruled that, where there are two sophisticated business entities who negotiated a contract that did not agree to class arbitration (this is called a “silent agreement”), one of the parties cannot later be subjected to class arbitration.  The ruling is long and a little tough to read through, but if you’re interested, it’s linked above.

Whether or not this will impact our case is now being decided by the arbitrator.  We do not believe Stolt is on point to our case, because the facts are so different where the agreements entered into by Westwood students were not negotiated, the industry standard does not oppose class arbitrations and students had no choice but to agree to the terms to attend the school.  We submitted a brief on this topic to the arbitrator on Monday and Westwood submitted a brief laying out their position at the same time.  Both sides are now responding to each other’s briefs and then the issue will be in the arbitrator’s hands to decide.

Once we know more about what happens next, we’ll be certain to post it.  There are a few options: (1) the case can proceed as a class in arbitration and we’ll move forward with the next steps, (2) the case cannot proceed in arbitration and we have to go to a judge to decide whether the agreement is unconscionable (that means too unfair to enforce), or (3) each student has to file an individual arbitration claim.  Over 600 students have contacted us about their experiences at Westwood College and Westwood College Online, so this would obviously be a huge task, but we’ll cross that bridge if we get there, but we don’t think the law supports forcing that final option.  So, keep checking back and we’ll let you know what’s going to happen next just as soon as we know.

In the mean time, we’re continuing our work and investigation every day.  To date, over FIFTY former employees have reached out to help the MORE THAN 600 students who have contacted us by sharing their experiences and knowledge.  Westwood College and other schools in the for-profit college industry have been heavily under attack lately by PBS, various news articles including one in Good Housekeeping and several articles exposing attempts to sway politicians through donations, claims made by politicians in political races, and on-going regulatory investigations.  All of this really comes down to one thing: your voices are being heard! YOU are making a difference by telling your stories and passing your experiences along to those people who can take action on your behalf.  Keep fighting the good fight and we’ll keep on standing by your side!