The plaintiffs argued that the defendants knowingly made false claims and statements in order to obtain Title IV program eligibility.
The United States, along with several states and the District of Columbia, filed a False Claims Act suit against a for-profit school system. The plaintiffs argued that the defendants knowingly made false claims and statements in order to obtain Title IV program eligibility.
Based on this analysis, our expert filed a declaration in support of summary judgment.
In particular, the plaintiffs alleged that the defendants violated Title IV’s ban on incentive compensation, and solely based recruiters’ salaries on the number of students they enrolled. The plaintiffs sought to recover treble damages based on billions of dollars of federal funds obtained by the defendants.
Defense counsel retained Cornerstone Research to assess liability and damages issues. Our expert used the defendants’ diverse data systems and records to construct a complex database of personnel, compensation, and student enrollment information.
To assess the validity of the plaintiffs’ claims, our expert performed descriptive, statistical, and regression analyses. His findings demonstrated that the number of student enrollments was not the only factor determining recruiter compensation. Based on this analysis, he filed a declaration in support of summary judgment.
Cornerstone Research also supported defense counsel during settlement negotiations by analyzing the defendant’s potential exposure and assessing possible damages and settlement scenarios. The case settled.