Can I sue a for profit college?
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Can I sue a for profit college?
This is a college I put on my FASFA because I was interested in it. I never attended the school I never even interviewed or know where the building is located and I ended up choosing a different school that was cheaper with better reviews. The school I listed on my fasfa started taking school loans out in my name for an entire year and racked up almost 17K. Again I have never signed up for that school. Never attended. Never toured. Ignored their phone calls. Nothing. I keep getting mixed answers from family if I should even pursue this. Also, this school was shut down 6 months ago for fraudulently charging ACTUAL students.
Asked on May 8, 2017 under Business Law, Texas
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
You can absolutely sue the for-profit college for taking out loans in your name, since they committed fraud and/or a form of theft; if you have a firm written committment that you will not be held liable for the loans, there is probably no point in doing so, because if you will not be liable for the loans, you have not been harmed and are not entitled to compensation (you only get compensation for actual harm or costs you incur); but if you are liable for the loans, then you probably do want to sue, since you could otherwise lose $17,000 and/or have your credit rating badly damaged. If the colege is shut down, it may be hard or impossible to sue the college directly (or if you can sue, to recover money from it), but if there was fraud involved, you may be able to "pierce the corporate veil" and look to hold the owner(s) personally liable.
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