Jury Erred In $9.2M Verdict, Career School Says

Representatives of a for-profit occupational school with a campus in Brick say the school will appeal a jury verdict that orders the school to pay $9.2 million for defrauding students.

Star Career Academy was accused in a class-action lawsuit of misrepresenting the school’s surgical technology program’s accreditations, among other claims, attorneys for the students who brought the suit said.

The suit claimed specifically that the school did not tell its students that most hospitals and other credentialing organizations in New Jersey no longer recognized Star’s surgical technology program, or others like it due to the passage of a law imposing stricter standards on the profession. That law took effect in January 2012.

More than 1,000 current and former students of the program were represented in the class-action lawsuit that was heard in Camden County court, according to the firm Greenblatt, Pierce, Engle, Funt and Flores, which represented the students.

Star Academy representatives say the surgical technology program in New Jersey represents less than 6 percent of the school’s total enrollment. The school has more than 2,000 students at its eight campuses in three states, according to Jeff Schoenborn, of Casteel Schoenborn Investor Relations & Corporate Communications.

Schoenborn said the school believes the facts do not support the jury’s verdict.

“Star Career Academy holds institutional accreditation from the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges, an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, and it stands by its surgical tech program, which has been fully vetted and approved by ACCSC as within its institutional accreditation,” Schoenborn said. “The school’s ACCSC accreditation is, was, and always has been accepted in the State of New Jersey.”

“Star Career Academy believes the jury’s task was to evaluate whether it sufficiently disclosed the passage of a December 2011 New Jersey law, even after the school determined that the legislation did not change the eligibility of its program graduates to practice as surgical technologists in New Jersey,” Schoenborn said.

“The company believes that the law and abundant facts in the case simply do not support any verdict against it. Star plans to argue for the entire $2.9 million verdict to be vacated on appeal,” he said, referring to the base amount of the verdict. State law triples the verdict amount, and the $9.2 million additionally reflects interest, according to the attorneys.

Schoenborn also stressed the jury verdict is ”not a statement on the excellent quality of the education and career services provided by the school today,” he said. “ Star Career Academy is extremely proud of its talented faculty, alumni in New Jersey and beyond, and the dedicated students who continue to work toward graduation and rewarding careers in the field.

The school also offers programs in allied health, business, cosmetology, culinary, hotel & restaurant management, veterinary assistant, professional education and continuing education programs.

Star Career Academy offers classes in Brick on Brick Boulevard, in the professional complex just south of Beaverson Boulevard.