Nursing school lawsuit lawsuit overview:
- Who: The state of Connecticut filed a lawsuit against Stone Academy, its owner Joseph Bierbaum and Paier College of Art Inc. — another school owned by Bierbaum.
- Why: Connecticut argues Stone Academy, which shut its doors earlier this year, failed to provide its students with the training it promised and used expensive enrollment fees to enrich its owners and their other businesses, to the schools detriment.
- Where: The lawsuit was filed in the Hartford Judicial District of the Connecticut Superior Court.
A now-shuttered for-profit nursing school in East Hartford, Connecticut, failed to provide students the education and training it promised and used steep enrollment fees to enrich the school’s owners, the state of Connecticut claims.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong claims Joseph Bierbaum and Mark Scheinberg, the owners of Stone Academy, received millions of dollars from and through the school, which they allegedly used on luxury cars, mansions, and to fund their other businesses.
Tong argues Stone Academy — which closed its doors in February — effectively stole from its students — who were charged more than $30,000 per year in tuition — and left many of them ineligible to sit for their licenses since they were not provided with enough clinical hours to be able to do so.
“Stone’s owners systematically siphoned millions of dollars of value from Stone, even though they knew or should have known this would render the school financially incapable of living up to its promises,” the Stone Academy lawsuit states.
Stone Academy accepted more students during pandemic than it could handle, lawsuit says
Tong argues Stone Academy also accepted more students into its nursing program during the COVID-19 pandemic than it was able to handle, swelling its revenue from around $660,000 per year in 2019 to more than $3 million per year in 2020 and 2021.
“These earnings were fueled by federal dollars in the form of student loan revenue and COVID-19 emergency aid. Stone also earned money from extra ‘books and fees’ charges paid by its students,” the lawsuit states.
Stone Academy, however, was unable to handle the influx of students, according to Tong, who claims the school blamed a subsequent drop in scores for a required nursing license exam on “social issues” within its student population.
A group of former Stone Academy students filed a class action lawsuit against the school in May over claims it deceived them about the quality of its nursing program and misled them about its upcoming closure.
Have you been financially injured by Stone Academy? Let us know in the comments.
Connecticut is represented by William Tong, Joseph E. Gasser, Katherine Hagmann-Borenstein and Addison Keilty of the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General.
The Nursing school lawsuit is Connecticut v. Career Training Specialists LLC dba Stone Academy, et al., Case No. HHD-CV23-6171626-S, in the Hartford Judicial District of the Connecticut Superior Court.
Don’t Miss Out!
Check out our list of Class Action Lawsuits and Class Action Settlements you may qualify to join!
Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:
- Oklahoma City University data breach lawsuit dismissed
- Villanova class action claims university should have prorated spring 2020 semester tuition due to COVID-19
- Biden announces plans to eliminate $9B in student debt
- Fired Northwestern football coach files defamation, breach of contract lawsuit seeking $130M
