California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools v. Devos

CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedNovember 18, 2019
DocketCivil Action No. 2017-0999
StatusPublished

This text of California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools v. Devos (California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools v. Devos) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools v. Devos, (D.D.C. 2019).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF PRIVATE POSTSECONDARY SCHOOLS,

Plaintiff,

v.

ELISABETH DeVOS, Secretary, U.S. Civil Action No. 17-999 (RDM) Department of Education, et al.,

Defendants,

MEAGHAN BAUER AND STEPHANO DEL ROSE,

Defendant-Intervenors.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Intervenors Meaghan Bauer and Stephano Del Rose (“the Intervenors”) are former

students at the New England Institute of Art (“NEIA”) who took out large student loans in

reliance on what they contend were false promises by NEIA. See Dkt. 22-1; Dkt. 22-2. On

November 1, 2016, the Department of Education (“the Department”) promulgated new rules that

would have made it easier for Bauer and Del Rose to seek administrative relief from their debts

and to bring class action claims on behalf of other former NEIA students against NEIA. See

generally Student Assistance General Provisions, Federal Perkins Loan Program, Federal Family

Education Loan Program, William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program, and Teacher Education

Assistance for College and Higher Education Grant Program, 81 Fed. Reg. 75,926 (Nov. 1,

2016) (to be codified at 34 C.F.R. scattered sections) (“the 2016 Rule”). The California

Association of Private Postsecondary Schools (“CAPPS”) filed this lawsuit challenging those

1 new rules as unlawful and seeking to enjoin their implementation. Dkt 1. In response to this

suit, the Department announced that it would delay implementation of the challenged rules, see

Dkt. 20, and, in response to the Department’s action, Bauer and Del Rose then filed a separate

suit challenging that delay as unlawful, see Bauer v. DeVos, 17-1330 (filed July 6, 2017). They

also moved to intervene in this case based on their concern that the Department’s decision to

stay implementation of the 2016 Rule might signal less than full resolve to defend the rule in the

present action. Dkt. 22. The Court granted their motion to intervene. See Dkt. 63 at 56–57

(Sept. 14, 2018 Hrg. Tr.). CAPPS now moves for reconsideration of that decision in light of

new evidence. Dkt. 64.

For the reasons explained below, the Court will deny CAPPS’s motion but will order

that the Intervenors show cause why the Court should not now revoke their status as intervenors

for lack of standing.

I. BACKGROUND

The history of the development of and challenges to the 2016 Rule and the Department’s

interim and final delay rules and the related litigation is set forth in this Court’s prior opinions

denying CAPPS’s motion for a preliminary injunction, Cal. Ass’n of Private Postsecondary

Schools v. DeVos, 344 F. Supp. 3d 158, 163–66 (D.D.C. 2018) (“CAPPS I”), and resolving the

parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment in Bauer v. DeVos, 325 F. Supp. 3d 74, 78–87

(D.D.C. 2018). For purposes of the present motion, an abridged version—with a focus on the

procedural history of this case—will suffice. The regulations at the center of this lawsuit were

promulgated on November 1, 2016 and are referred to as the “Borrower Defense Regulations” or

the “2016 Rule.” 81 Fed. Reg. at 75,926. Among other things, these regulations prohibit schools

“participating in the [Federal] Direct Loan Program from obtaining” or relying upon a

2 borrower’s “waive[r] [of] his or her right to initiate or participate in a class action lawsuit,” and

“from requiring students to engage in internal dispute processes before contacting accrediting or

government agencies” regarding the claims forming the basis of such a class action lawsuit.

(“Arbitration and Class Action Waiver Provision”). CAPPS I, 344 F. Supp. 3d at 166 (quoting

81 Fed. Reg. at 75,926–27). Under the pre-existing rules, borrowers could apply for relief from

their loans on the ground that their educational institutions had engaged in certain forms of

misconduct. Id. 165–66. The 2016 Rule also contained a provision amending the standards and

procedures applicable to the Department’s adjudication of these so-called borrower defense

applications (“Borrower Defense Provision”). Id. Although not relevant to CAPPS’s motion for

reconsideration, challenged portions of the 2016 Rule also require “financially risky institutions

[to be] prepared to take responsibility for the losses to the government for discharges of and

repayments for [f]ederal student loans (‘Financial Responsibility Provision’)” and “adopt[]

certain disclosure obligations for institutions ‘at which the median borrower has not repaid in

full, or made loan payments sufficient to reduce by at the least one dollar the outstanding balance

of the borrower’s loans received at the institution (‘Repayment Rate Provision’).” Id. at 166

(quoting 81 Fed. Reg. at 75,926–27).

CAPPS filed this lawsuit on May 24, 2017 challenging the 2016 Rule in its entirety. Dkt.

1. Eight days after filing suit, CAPPS moved for a preliminary injunction precluding portions of

the 2016 Rule from taking effect. Dkt. 6. In response, the Department issued a rule staying

implementation of most, but not all, provisions of the 2016 Rule pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 705, see

Dkt. 20, which allows agencies to “postpone the effective date of an action taken by it” if it

concludes that “justice so requires.” That action by the Department prompted CAPPS to

withdraw its motion for a preliminary injunction, see Dkt. 21, and prompted Meaghan Bauer and

3 Stephano Del Rose to move to intervene as defendants in this action so they could defend the

2016 Rule, see Dkt. 22. Eight states and the District of Columbia also sought to intervene to

defend the 2016 Rule. Dkt. 16. Around that same time, Bauer and Del Rose filed a separate

lawsuit, Bauer v. DeVos, l7-cv-1330 (D.D.C. filed July 6, 2017), challenging the Department’s

rule staying the 2016 Rule’s implementation and the interim and final rules delaying

implementation of the 2016 Rule.

The Intervenors based their motion to intervene on the fact that they had taken out large

Federal Direct Loans to attend NEIA, which, they contend, misrepresented the education and

employment opportunities it would provide to them. See Dkt. 22 at 9–10; Dkt. 22-1; Dkt. 22-2.

They explained that they stood to benefit from the 2016 Rule in two ways. First, they sought to

bring a class action lawsuit against NEIA and its parent company, Education Management

Corporation (“EDMC”), for various violations of Massachusetts law, and that lawsuit would

have been barred or channeled into individual arbitration proceedings unless the Arbitration and

Class Action Waiver Provision of the 2016 Rule was allowed to take effect. See Dkt. 22 at 13.

Second, they explained, albeit in a footnote in their reply brief, that they had each filed borrower

defense applications with the Department as a defense to repayment and would benefit from the

2016 Rule’s more borrower-friendly procedures for adjudicating those administrative

applications. See Dkt. 44 at 12 n.1.

The Court stayed the CAPPS case pending resolution of cross-motions for summary

judgment in Bauer addressing the lawfulness of the Department’s delay in implementing the

2016 Rule.

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