Althouse: Judge dismisses lawsuit by 9 NY Law School grads who said they were misled about job prospects.

March 23, 2012

Judge dismisses lawsuit by 9 NY Law School grads who said they were misled about job prospects.

"In this court’s view, the issues posed by this case exemplify the adage that not every ailment afflicting society may be redressed by a lawsuit."

16 comments:

Skyler said...: How convenient for the legal education industry.; 3/23/12, 2:02 PM
traditionalguy said...: What would be the damages?

Fraud is never about the future advertised. But fraud can be about the material miss statement of a past fact.

So how the statistics were formulated and quoted could be a challenge. Saying 95% of graduates were employed doesn't say where they are employed or doing what.

But if a Jury threw in the missing facts, what would be the measure of damages? A prorated tuition rebate for unemployed time?; 3/23/12, 2:18 PM
Sorun said...: I think there should be a task force created to overhaul the legal profession, The task force should consist of 500 doctors.; 3/23/12, 2:20 PM
Peter said...: "every ailment afflicting society may be redressed by a lawsuit."

Well, apparently Faron Butler thinks so. He's suing T-Mobile for erasing his two-year-old voicemails.

Now, it's true that the voicemails are from his deceased daughter. But empathy for Mr. Butler is difficult to sustain after learning that he's suing T-Mobile for negligence.

Because, if there is negligence here, surely it's Faron Butler's negligence for not figuring out how to record the voicemails during the two years they were available to him?

After all, no one but he could have known how important the voicemails were. So why would someone else be responsible for them, when he had plenty of opportunity to prevent their loss?

http://abcnews.go.com/US/dead-daughters-voicemails-erased-phone-company-dad-demands/story?id=15982472; 3/23/12, 2:26 PM
Peter said...: A predictable if unfortunate outcome. About the only bit of good news is the recent story that law school applications are on the decline, as more and more people are finally getting the point that spending an additional three years and incurring an additional $100K in student loans is not the best strategy for dealing with a dismal job market for liberal arts graduates.; 3/23/12, 2:31 PM
Anonymous said...: Cooper had borrowed $800,000 by the time she entered her third year of law school without any job prospects.

Ms. Cooper's lack of foresight would probably prevent her from being an effective lawyer, but I also think that the lenders of those $800 thousand (not Uncle Sam as a guarantor) should take those losses.; 3/23/12, 2:35 PM
MadisonMan said...: How can you borrow $800K to go to school?

(boggle); 3/23/12, 2:47 PM
MadisonMan said...: Aah -- a misprint. In the original NY Mag article, Cooper had a debt of $80K, not $800K.

How can an editor have missed that?

Math is hard, I guess.; 3/23/12, 2:51 PM
edutcher said...: Every school in the country could be sued on those grounds.; 3/23/12, 2:58 PM
Patrick said...: Good catch, MadisonMan. I wondered what sort of accommodations this person had during law school. Did she jet in from the Caribbean every day? $80K makes far more sense.; 3/23/12, 3:01 PM
Wince said...: The plaintiff's lawyers make an interesting observation about the standard of review applied to this motion for dismissal and, in my experience, many consumer protection statute cases.

We fully disagree with the judge’s decision and fully intend to appeal as soon as possible. Essentially, the judge’s two main points are that a reasonable consumer should have known better and should not have reasonably relied on NYLS’s detailed employment reports and that damages are too speculative. We believe that these issues are questions of fact — not law — and that the First Department will agree with us. This is one setback is a long-term process, and we always expected for many of these issues to ultimately be resolved on an appellate level. Moreover, we fully intend to soldier on and to sue many more law schools in the forthcoming weeks and months ahead.; 3/23/12, 3:22 PM
Curious George said...: "MadisonMan said...
How can you borrow $800K to go to school?"

Birth control if you're a slut.; 3/23/12, 3:24 PM
Peter said...: Math is hard, I guess.

Something that 90% of law school applicants give as their main reason for going to law school.; 3/23/12, 3:40 PM
traditionalguy said...: Hurray for the Plaintiffs here.

As a practicing lawyer, I can only see a great and noble benefit to society from curtailing the numbers of new lawyers.

Some Dem insider, Garage or Cookie, please tell Obama that Law Schools are a form of oil, and then we can watch his EPA Administrator knock em down like dominoes.

That is all.; 3/23/12, 4:08 PM
wyo sis said...: However self-serving the verdict, it's refreshing to see at least one judge admit that a lawsuit is not the answer. Now, if we can get the general population to accept this notion, we may get somewhere.; 3/23/12, 4:53 PM
Tank said...: Peter said...
Math is hard, I guess.

Something that 90% of law school applicants give as their main reason for going to law school.

Actually, much of the same kind of logic/reasoning utilized in doing math is necessary for working your way through statutes, cases, and legal issues.; 3/24/12, 8:23 AM