Judge tosses consumer fraud claims against Arizona Summit Law School
A federal judge in Arizona has dismissed part of a lawsuit claiming the Arizona Summit Law School committed fraud by failing to report information about students admitted through an alternative program.
U.S. District Judge Neil Wake tossed the claims of fraud, consumer fraud and misrepresentation in a Dec. 27 order (PDF), the National law Journal (sub. req.) reports. The suit was filed by Paula Lorona, a former school employee who was also a student.
Lorona had claimed she wouldn’t have attended Arizona Summit if the school had not misrepresented the statistics about the qualifications of incoming students. Lorona said the school did not include in its statistics the grades and LSAT scores of students admitted through a program that guarantees a spot to students who pass a seven-week online law course.
But the law school provided information in discovery showing that including the alternative-admission data did not materially alter the statistics.
Still pending are Lorona’s claims of retaliatory discharge, gender discrimination, and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Lorona claims she was fired from her job as assistant director of financial aid after she refused to submit false state tax documents.
Arizona Summit is owned InfiLaw Corp., which also owns the Florida Coastal School of Law and Charlotte School of Law. The Charlotte school is facing a different lawsuit alleging it misrepresented its compliance with ABA accreditation standards.
