In the bitter battle between Denver’s Westwood College, Inc. and the law firm that sued it on behalf of former students, rack up a win for Westwood.
The for-profit college won an important ruling (pdf) from an arbitrator that knocked out the class action arbitration (pdf) it faced in Colorado. In what may be the first decision based on the Supreme Court’s ruling in April in Stolt-Nielsen, S.A. v. AnimalFeeds, International Corp., arbitrator William Baker found that the arbitration clause students agreed to when they enrolled at the school “does not permit the arbitration to proceed on behalf of a class action and that the clause is not unconscionable.”
