Crawford v. American Institute of Professional Careers, Inc.

934 F. Supp. 335, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9407, 1996 WL 421441
CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedMay 17, 1996
DocketNos. CIV 94-2402 PHX CAM, CIV 95-0366 PHX CAM, CIV 95-0376 PHX CAM and CIV 96-0646 PHX CAM
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 934 F. Supp. 335 (Crawford v. American Institute of Professional Careers, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Crawford v. American Institute of Professional Careers, Inc., 934 F. Supp. 335, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9407, 1996 WL 421441 (D. Ariz. 1996).

Opinion

ORDER

MUECKE, District Judge.

Having considered defendants Student Education Loan Marketing Corporation’s [SEL-MAC] and Arizona Educational Loan Marketing Corporation’s [AELMAC] motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, the court concludes as follows:

Background

Plaintiffs allege in their third amended complaint that in reliance on misrepresentations by American Institute they enrolled in its court reporting program and took out guaranteed student loans to pay American Institute. Relevant to this motion to dismiss, plaintiffs seek injunctive and declaratory relief against SELMAC and AELMAC as secondary market purchasers who purchased the loans after they were made. Plaintiffs allege that American Institute acted as an agent of the lenders and that the secondary purchasers are subject to plaintiffs’ defenses to enforcement of the student loans because defendants cannot be holders in due course under the Higher Education Act. Plaintiffs do not allege fraud or wrongdoing on the part of the secondary purchasers.

Defendant SELMAC has filed a motion to dismiss the action against it for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. SELMAC argues that it is entitled to dismissal because plaintiffs claims against it are preempted by the anti-discrimination rules and the purposes of the Higher Education Act. Defendant AELMAC has joined in the motion. Plaintiffs respond that their state law claims are not preempted. Although the parties attached some documents to their motions, the court has not considered those documents in making its decision.

Standard — Motions to Dismiss

A complaint may be dismissed pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure only if “it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief.” Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99,102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); McLain v. Real Estate Bd. of New Orleans, Inc., 444 U.S. 232, 246, 100 S.Ct. 502, 511, 62 L.Ed.2d 441 (1980); Alonzo v. ACF Property Management, Inc., 643 F.2d 578, 579 (9th Cir.1981); Hunt-Wesson Foods, Inc. v. Ragu Foods, 627 F.2d 919, 924 (9th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 921, 101 S.Ct. 1369, 67 L.Ed.2d 348 (1981). The complaint is construed in the light most favorable to plaintiff, all factual allegations are presumed to be true and all reasonable inferences are made in favor of the non-moving party. Miree v. DeKalb County, Georgia, 433 U.S. 25, 27 n. 2, 97 S.Ct. 2490, 2492 n. 2, 53 L.Ed.2d 557 (1977); Western Mining Council v. Watt, 643 F.2d 618 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 1031, 102 S.Ct. 567, 70 L.Ed.2d 474 (1981); Mann v. Adams Realty Co., 556 F.2d 288, 293 (5th Cir.1977). However, legal conclusions couched as factual allegations are not given a presumption of truthfulness. See Jones v. Community Redevelopment Agency, 733 F.2d 646, 649-650 (9th Cir.1984). A complaint that lacks an allegation regarding a required element necessary to obtain relief may be dismissed. See Havoco of America, Ltd. v. Shell Oil Co., 626 F.2d 549, 553 (7th Cir.1980).

Alleged Facts

The parties agree that the following facts are undisputed: SELMAC, formerly known as California Student Loan Finance Corporation, is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation that was established to expand the availability of federally guaranteed student loans to eligible students by creating a [339]*339secondary market to whom lenders could sell their loans and thereby obtain the funds to originate additional guaranteed student loans. SELMAC raises funds to purchase guaranteed student loans by issuing tax-exempt bonds to the public. SELMAC purchased plaintiff Lee’s loan in 1988 after she completed her court reporting program in 1987, received some loan payments from her and sold her loan to Sallie Mae in January of 1998 before this action was commenced in 1994.

AELMAC, the Arizona Educational Loan Marketing Corporation, is the Arizona equivalent of SELMAC and holds some loans of American Institute students as a secondary purchaser of those loans.

Discussion

I. Is plaintiffs’ state law claim against the secondary purchasers preempted by the anti-discrimination rules of the Higher Education Act [HEA]?

As a general rule, preemption may occur if: (1) Congress states that preemption exists in express terms; (2) Congress’ intent can be inferred where the scheme of federal regulation is sufficiently comprehensive that Congress left no room for state regulation; or (3) where Congress has not completely preempted state law, federal law may preempt to the extent that state law actually conflicts so that compliance with both is a physical impossibility. California Federal Sav. & Loan Ass’n v. Guerra, 479 U.S. 272, 281, 107 S.Ct. 683, 689, 93 L.Ed.2d 613 (1987).

One court has held that any students’ attempts to rescind guaranteed student loans are preempted by the Higher Education Act’s comprehensive body statutory and regulatory law. Graham v. Security Savings & Loan, 125 F.R.D. 687, 692-93 (N.D.Ind.1989), aff'd on other grounds sub. nom. Veal v. First American Savings Bank, 914 F.2d 909 (7th Cir.1990). Other courts have found that the Higher Education Act may preempt state law claims under two circumstances: (1) if it is impossible for an individual to abide by both state law and the HEA; or (2) if the state law precludes execution of the purposes and objectives of the HEA. In both cases, the HEA preempts the state law. Kearns v. Tempe Technical Institute, Inc., 39 F.3d 222, 225-26 (9th Cir.1994); Armstrong v. Accrediting Council for Continuing Education & Training, 832 F.Supp. 419, 429 (D.D.C.1993); Tipton v. Sec’y of Education, 768 F.Supp. 540, 555 (S.D.W.Va.1991).

Both plaintiffs and defendants agree that, based on Ninth Circuit law, the Higher Education Act does not completely preempt all state claims. Kearns, 39 F.3d at 225. The Ninth Circuit has addressed the issue of preemption of state negligence claims against accreditors and adopted the limited view of preemption finding that “we infer preemption of state law if compliance with both state and federal law would be impossible or state law stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress.” Kearns, 39 F.3d at 225.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Crawford v. AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PROFESSIONAL
934 F. Supp. 335 (D. Arizona, 1996)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
934 F. Supp. 335, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9407, 1996 WL 421441, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crawford-v-american-institute-of-professional-careers-inc-azd-1996.