Student Defense and Edelman Combs Latturner & Goodwin, LLC filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of students who were misled by the Dream Center and the Illinois Institute of Art (IIA), a college with campuses in Chicago and Schaumburg, Ill. The lawsuit, filed December 6, 2018, accuses the school of hiding the fact that it had lost its accreditation for nearly half a year, while encouraging students to continue paying for courses and even graduate with unaccredited degrees. The lawsuit also names, among others, Dream Center Educational Holdings and the Dream Center Foundation, corporate entities that own and control the Illinois Institute of Art.
Update: On January 6, 2020, the federal judge hearing the case ruled that the lawsuit can continue, setting the stage for discovery and potential relief for students harmed by the Dream Center's deception and fraud. More here.
Update: On May 22, 2019, Student Defense client RJ Infusino testified before the House Oversight Committee's Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy. The hearing, titled "Examining For-Profit College Oversight and Student Debt" examined RJ's experience at the Illinois Institute of Art, and how the school's deception derailed his education and career plans. You can watch RJ's opening statement here, and a video of the whole hearing here.
Related Case:
The Illinois Institute of Art and its related schools were placed into receivership, and Student Defense is representing students' interests in those proceedings. More information is available here.
Case Background
In 2017, the Dream Center Foundation announced it was purchasing the Illinois Institute of Art and other schools from the for-profit Education Management Corporation (EDMC) for $60 million. The sale of the IIA campuses was completed on January 20, 2018. IIA’s accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), informed the school that it had lost its accreditation as of that date. Accreditation is the primary way that students, employers, and the public can have confidence in a college or university and is critical to students’ opportunity to transfer credits to another school or secure employment.
Case Documents
- Order Denying Richardson/Murphy Motion to Dismiss & Granting Plaintiffs Additional Relief (8/5/2021)
- Richardson and Murphy’s Reply in Support of Motion to Dismiss (8/2/2021)
- Plaintiffs’ Response to Richardson and Murphy’s Motion to Dismiss (7/26/2021)
- Shelly Murphy's Motion to Dismiss (7/12/2021)
- Brent and Chris Richardson’s Motion to Dismiss (7/12/2021)
- Order Granting Jurisdictional Discovery as to Brent Richardson, Chris Richardson, and Shelly Murphy (4/19/2021)
- Dream Center Foundation's Answer to Third Amended Complaint (2/24/2021)
- Third Amended Complaint (1/25/2021)
- Order Denying Dream Center Foundation's Motion to Dismiss (1/6/2020)
- Second Amended Complaint (7/19/2019)
- Dream Center Foundation's Motion to Dismiss (5/31/2019)
- Amended Complaint (4/19/2019)
- Dunagan v. IIA Complaint