Peter Goodman of The New York Times does a nice job here of looking at the problem of for-profit trade schools. The story mentions our class action against Western Culinary Institute/Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Portland. And while it’s all exciting to see the… Continue Reading →
This is an update on the Oregon consumer fraud class action against Western Culinary Institute and Career Education Corp. that I am handling with co-counsel, Brian Campf. Lots of background here and here. I know many people have questions about where we are on this. We’re… Continue Reading →
It only took 10 years. Late yesterday, we agreed to settle our consumer fraud class action against Western Culinary Institute, Le Cordon Bleu-Portland, and Career Education Corp. Under the settlement, class members will get refunds of 44 percent of the amounts that they paid for tuition, books, and fees. The… Continue Reading →
So we’ve been hearing a lot from class members about Sallie Mae efforts at collection of debts arising from loans for those who attended Western Culinary Institute and Le Cordon Bleu Portland who are part of the class action against those defendants. If you are in that situation, please understand… Continue Reading →
For those interested, I’m posting our recent motion to dismiss and motion for reconsideration in Surrett v. Career Education Corp., our consumer fraud class against Career Education Corp for Western Culinary Institute/Le Cordon Bleu Portland students. We had cleared all pretrial motions and were steaming toward our January trial date… Continue Reading →
This is a longer update on our case against Career Education Corp. and Western Culinary Institute/Le Cordon Bleu Portland. It’s an update for those following the case, including members of the class. Brian Campf and I were back in court Friday. Judge Baldwin issued a number of rulings from the… Continue Reading →
This is a short update for all following our consumer fraud class action against Career Education Corporation and its Portland culinary school, Western Culinary Institute/Le Cordon Bleu Portland. We’ve been waiting for a ruling from Judge Baldwin on Career Education Corp’s motion to compel arbitration and to dismiss this long-running… Continue Reading →
Here is the link to a recent NPR story regarding culinary schools and the disconnect between culinary careers and the costs of culinary school. Interesting quote from the of Career Education Corp. executive Kirk Bachmann about the calculations of placement rates. He notes that CEC schools do not include… Continue Reading →
Recently, Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Richard Baldwin signed this order (pdf) certifying an Oregon consumer fraud class action against Western Culinary Institute and Career Education Corp. It took us a while to get to an order. That’s not unusual in class action cases. There is a quiet feature… Continue Reading →
Scharfstein v. BP West Coast Products, LLC, No 1112-17046 (Multnomah Cnty. Cir. Ct.) Across Oregon, ARCO gas stations and am-pm minimarkets charged consumers an illegal debit card charge 13,000 times a day. Over 2 million consumers were overcharged. David led a team of talented lawyers in what is widely recognized… Read More