Alsides v. Brown Inst., Ltd.

Alsides v. Brown Inst., Ltd.

Opinion

 [*470]  OPINION

HUSPENI, Judge

Appellant students argue that the district court erred when it recharacterized their complaint alleging fraud, misrepresentation, breach of contract, and violations of the Consumer Fraud and Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Acts as a claim for educational malpractice and dismissed it on summary judgment. Appellants further argue that the district court erred when it concluded, as a matter of law, that the Consumer Fraud and Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Acts do not apply to trade-school instruction or allow the recovery of damages. In a separate appeal consolidated with this case, respondents challenge the district court's decision to reduce respondent's award for costs and disbursements. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.

FACTS

Appellants are former students of respondent Brown Institute, Ltd., a for-profit, proprietary trade school. In 1994, Brown commenced a 12-month-long Personal Computer/Local Area Network (PC/LAN) program [**3]  that it claimed would prepare students for entry-level positions as PC installers and repairers and LAN installers, support technicians, and administrators. In addition, the program was to "prepare an individual to become a Certified Network Administrator (CNA)." Depending on what year the student enrolled, the cost of course tuition and books ranged from $ 8,385 to $ 10,127.

Advertising for the course was developed in 1994 and, at the time most appellants enrolled in the course, consisted primarily of newspaper ads, a brochure, and a radio spot. One brochure stated that students would (1) learn "today's most popular desktop systems"; (2) work with the most powerful computer chips on the market, including Pentiums, 486 PCs, Powermacs, and file servers; and (3) be prepared to take two industry-recognized certification tests, the Novell Certified  [*471]  Netware Administrator (CNA) exam and the A+ computer service certificate test.

Appellants brought two separate actions against Brown, alleging fraud, misrepresentation, breach of contract, consumer fraud, and deceptive trade practices. In addition to alleging that the education they received was inadequate and the instructors were not competent,  [**4]  the appellants asserted, among other allegations, that (1) Brown misrepresented the certification and qualification of its instructors; (2) instructors lacked a curriculum; (3) Brown misrepresented that students would be prepared to take the CNA exam and the A+ certification test; (4) students were not taught in modern, up-to-date facilities with state-of-the-art hardware; and (5) Brown did not provide the 960 hours of course instruction it had allegedly promised.

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