Contracts
Calif. Law Student’s Class Action Wins $33M Tuition Refund
Posted Jan 6, 2009 5:53 PM CST
By Martha Neil
A lawsuit launched by a former law student at the University of California at Berkeley has netted some $33 million in refunds—make that $42 million, counting interest—for tuition overcharges to some 35,000 UC students.
Awards ranged from $1 to $12,000, with graduate students—who were hit with the biggest tuition increases--at the upper end of the scale, reports the Contra Costa Times.
An appeals court upheld in 2007 a verdict that the University of California unfairly raised tuition in 2003, after promising not to do so. The students' suit alleged a breach of contract.
But the case didn't reach a conclusion until the state supreme court this year declined to hear a further appeal, according to the newspaper. Most of the money was paid out in December.
"People have been very appreciative," says lead plaintiff Mohammad Kashmiri, the former Berkeley law student. "It came at a great time, right before Christmas."
Attorney Andrew Freeman of Baltimore was one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs.
Earlier coverage:
Associated Press: "High court upholds tuition refunds for some UC students"
Los Angeles Times: "8 Students Sue University of California Over Fee Increases"
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Comments
CaliGirl
Jan 9, 2009 12:05 PM CST
Ok, so they win a huge judgment—and guess who gets to pay for it: the current/future students of Cal who will have their fees increased, and the taxpayers of California, some of whom will be those same people who receive part of the award. Who are the real “winners” here? The attorneys.
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SeaCL
Jan 9, 2009 12:56 PM CST
Sounds like a win/win situation.
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DavisGrad
Jan 10, 2009 4:17 PM CST
I graduated from UC Davis law school in 2005, and I recently received a payment of just short of $5k from this settlement. I assure you, what was given back to us by the Regents is merely what was overcharged to begin with. We’re not unfairly reaching into the pockets of other students. After the fee increases at Davis (which, we were told, were more oppressive than what the Berkeley students were made to bear), the law students paid about triple the tuition of the undergraduates, even though the law school is the least expensive department on the campus. The fee increases assessed to the professional students were geometrically larger than those for the undergrads, even though there were tens of thousands more of them to spread the expense across. I’ve got $90,000 in student loans to somehow pay back on my $50,000 salary. The settlement check I received is small consolation, but it is consolation all the same.
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B. McLeod
Jan 10, 2009 4:46 PM CST
The faculty can be satisfied that they taught him well.
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