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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE
DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
DARNELL E. WILLIAMS and YESSENIA M. TAVERAS,
Plaintiffs,
v. ELISABETH DEVOS in her official capacity as Secretary of the
United States Department of Education,
Defendant.
) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )
Civil Action No. 16-11949-LTS
MOTION BY THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
TO COMPEL COMPLIANCE WITH THIS COURT’S ORDER OR, IN THE
ALTERNATIVE, TO INTERVENE
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts (the “Commonwealth”), by and
through the Office
of Attorney General Maura Healey, respectfully moves to compel
compliance with the Court’s
Order in this matter, Dkt. No. 99 (the “Order”), pursuant to
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 71,
or, in the alternative, to intervene pursuant to Federal Rules
Civil Procedure 24 as a plaintiff-
intervenor in this action.
The motion to compel compliance pursuant to Rule 71 should be
granted because the
Secretary of Education (the “Secretary”) refuses to comply with
the Order that the letter from
Attorney General Healey to the Secretary dated November 30, 2015
regarding Corinthian
College, Inc. (“the DTR”) invoked a borrower defense proceeding
on behalf of the borrowers
listed in Exhibit 4 to the DTR. The Order’s Conclusion was
straightforward:
the Court determines that the DTR invoked a borrower defense
proceeding on behalf of the people listed on Exhibit 4, including
Williams and Taveras; that such
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a request was within Attorney General Healey’s authority to
make; that such a request was not precluded by federal regulations,
even in the absence of an attachment of a personal request
emanating from each individual borrower; and that certification,
without consideration of Attorney General Healey’s DTR submission,
was arbitrary and capricious.
Dkt. No. 99 at 29.
Nevertheless, and contrary to the Order, the Secretary continues
to maintain that the DTR
has not invoked a borrower defense proceeding on behalf of the
people listed in Exhibit 4, other
than the two named Plaintiffs. A motion to enforce pursuant to
Rule 71 is appropriate because
the Commonwealth is a non-party granted relief in the Order and
the Secretary is not in
compliance with the Order. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 71. The Attorney
General is the chief law
enforcer in the Commonwealth and has an important interest in
having her authority to invoke
borrower defenses on behalf of defrauded Massachusetts students
vindicated.
In the alternative, intervention is warranted as of right
because the motion was
brought timely after the Commonwealth learned that the Secretary
was not in compliance
with the Order and governing law as declared by the Court and
because of important
interests described above. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 24(a)(2).
Finally, even if the Court finds
that intervention is not warranted as of right, it should grant
the Commonwealth
permissive leave to intervene because its claims share common
questions of law and fact
with Plaintiffs’ complaint. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 24(b)(1)(B).
Pursuant to Local Rule 7.1(b)(1), the grounds for the
Commonwealth’s motion are set
forth with specificity in the memorandum of law filed
herewith.
WHEREFORE, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts respectfully
request that the Court
grant its motion to enforce compliance with the Court’s Order,
on the alternative, its motion to
intervene.
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REQUEST FOR ORAL ARGUMENT
The Commonwealth believes that oral argument may assist the
Court and accordingly
requests a hearing on the motion.
LOCAL RULE 7.1(A)(2) CERTIFICATION
The undersigned counsel for the Commonwealth certifies that he
has conferred by
telephone with counsel for Plaintiffs on February 22, 2019, and
Defendant on February 25, 2019
to resolve or narrow the issue addressed in this motion.
Plaintiffs assent to the Commonwealth’s
motion. Defendant notified the Commonwealth on February 26,
2019, that she opposes the
Commonwealth’s motion.
Respectfully submitted,
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY
/s/ Timothy S. Hoitink
Glenn S. Kaplan (BBO No. 567308) Timothy S. Hoitink (BBO No.
672661) Assistant Attorneys General Insurance and Financial
Services Division Public Protection and Advocacy Bureau Office of
the Attorney General One Ashburton Place Boston, MA 02108 (617)
963-2453 (Kaplan) (617) 963-2465 (Hoitink) [email protected]
Dated: February 26, 2019 [email protected]
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I, Timothy S. Hoitink, hereby certify
that this document filed through the ECF system will be sent
electronically to the registered participants as identified on the
Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF) and paper copies will be sent to
those indicated as non-registered participants by First Class Mail.
Dated: February 26, 2019 /s/ Timothy S. Hoitink x Timothy
Hoitink
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE
DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
DARNELL E. WILLIAMS and YESSENIA M. TAVERAS,
Plaintiffs,
v. ELISABETH DEVOS in her official capacity as Secretary of the
United States Department of Education,
Defendant.
) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )
Civil Action No. 16-11949-LTS
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF MOTION BY THE COMMONWEALTH OF
MASSACHUSETTS TO COMPEL COMPLIANCE WITH THIS COURT’S
ORDER OR, IN THE ALTERNATIVE, TO INTERVENE
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts (the “Commonwealth”), by and
through the Office
of Attorney General Maura Healey, submits this memorandum of law
in support of its motion to
compel compliance with the Court’s Order in this matter, Dkt.
No. 99 (the “Order”), pursuant to
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 71, or, in the alternative, to
intervene pursuant to Federal Rules
Civil Procedure 24 as a plaintiff-intervenor in this action.
At center in this case is the defense to repayment application
submitted by the Attorney
General Healey to the Secretary of Education (the “Secretary”)
dated November 30, 2015, laying
out clear and convincing evidence that establishes widespread
fraud committed by Corinthian
Colleges, Inc. (“Corinthian”) against Massachusetts students
(the “DTR”). The DTR requested
federal loan discharges for 7,200 students listed on Exhibit 4
(“Exhibit 4”) as permitted under
federal law and the terms of the loans themselves. Dkt. No.
47-1. Plaintiffs asserted, and
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Defendant disputed, that the DTR is sufficient to invoke a
borrower defense to repayment on
behalf of the people listed in Exhibit 4. The Court squarely
addressed the dispute as follows in
the Order’s conclusion:
the Court determines that the DTR invoked a borrower defense
proceeding on behalf of the people listed on Exhibit 4, including
Williams and Taveras; that such a request was within Attorney
General Healey’s authority to make; that such a request was not
precluded by federal regulations, even in the absence of an
attachment of a personal request emanating from each individual
borrower; and that certification, without consideration of Attorney
General Healey’s DTR submission, was arbitrary and capricious.
Dkt. No.99 at 29. Nevertheless, and contrary to the Order, the
Secretary continues to
maintain that the DTR did not invoke a borrower defense on
behalf of the people listed in
Exhibit 4, other than the two named Plaintiffs. The Commonwealth
brings this motion to
enforce full compliance with the Order.
BACKGROUND
This case arose out of the massive fraud at Corinthian,
including the Everest Institute in
Massachusetts. The Commonwealth filed suit against Corinthian in
Massachusetts Superior
Court against Corinthian in early 2014 after a thorough
investigation. Dkt. No. 47-1 at 2. In
November 2015, Attorney General Healey sent substantial evidence
demonstrating Corinthian’s
fraud to the Secretary in the DTR, together with a request for
loan discharges for affected
Massachusetts borrowers. In support of her request, Attorney
General Healey provided
thousands of pages of evidence that Corinthian repeatedly
inflated its placement rates, lied to
prospective students about these rates, rushed and pressured
students into uniformed and ill-
advised enrollment decisions, and failed to provide the quality
education promised, among other
unfair and deceptive acts and practices. Dkt. No. 47-1. Attorney
General Healey also submitted
identifying information about 7,200 Corinthian students in
Exhibit 4. Id. In 2016, the
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Commonwealth obtained a final judgment against Corinthian in
which the Massachusetts
Superior Court ordered restitution in the amount of
$67,333,019—an amount equal to all funds
Corinthian acquired from graduates who enrolled between July 1,
2006 through June 30, 2014.
Dkt. No. 29-1 at 2, 10.
Plaintiffs Williams and Tavares were among the thousands of
defrauded students listed in
Exhibit 4. Dkt. No. 29-1 at 12. In 2014, Plaintiffs defaulted on
their student loans. AR at 488–
89, 814–15. In December 2015, the Department of Education (the
“Department”) certified
Plaintiffs’ student loan debts as legally enforceable for
purposes of referral to the U.S.
Department of the Treasury’s Treasury Offset Program (“TOP”).
The Department made this
certification notwithstanding the considerable evidence it had
received from Attorney General
Healey as well as other information in its possession at that
time and without considering the
DTR. Dkt. No. 55 ¶¶ 11–14. In April and May 2016, the Department
seized Plaintiffs’ tax
refunds. AR at 532, 818–19.
On September 28, 2016, Plaintiffs brought this lawsuit alleging
the Secretary improperly
certified Plaintiffs’ student loan debts as legally enforceable
for purposes of referral to the TOP.
In January 2017, the Secretary moved to dismiss Plaintiffs’
action. Dkt. Nos. 18, 19. Plaintiffs
opposed, Dkt. No. 22, and the Commonwealth filed an amicus brief
in support of the opposition,
Dkt. No. 29. The Court allowed the motion to the extent the
Amended Complaint, Dkt. No 5,
sought injunction relief or relief on behalf of persons other
than Williams and Taveras. Dkt. No.
35. In granting this portion of the motion to dismiss, the Court
noted that it “renders the first
portion of its ruling in light of the presumption that the
defendant, a public official, will act in
good faith and comply with governing law as declared by the
Court.” Id. The Court denied the
motion to dismiss in all other respects. Id.
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On October 24, 2018, this Court entered the Order after hearing
Plaintiffs’ and
Defendant’s cross-motions for relief regarding involuntary
collection actions. Among other
things, the Court concluded that the DTR had invoked a borrower
defense proceeding on behalf
of each borrower listed in Exhibit 4. Dkt. No. 99 at 29. The
Court ordered the Secretary to take
certain specific steps, including report on the status and
timing of her decision with respect to
Plaintiffs borrower defense applications within sixty days. Id.
at 29–30.
On November 28, 2018, counsel for the Commonwealth wrote to the
Secretary seeking
confirmation that the Department intended to fully comply with
the Court’s order and cease
involuntary collections against all borrowers listed in Exhibit
4 at least until it had rendered a
decision on the DTR. See First AG Letter, attached as Ex. A. On
December 12, 2018, counsel
for the Secretary responded as follows: “Secretary intends to
comply with the letter of the
Court’s Order and, accordingly, will describe her compliance
efforts in a status report filed with
the court on or before December 24, 2018.” See First Secretary
DeVos Letter, attached as Ex. B.
Counsel did not respond to the Commonwealth’s request that the
Department confirm it intended
to cease involuntary collections against all borrowers listed in
Exhibit 4 at least until it had
rendered a decision on the DTR. Id.
On December 20, 2018, the Secretary filed a status report
outlining her compliance with
the Court’s order. Dkt. No. 101. In this, the Secretary noted
that “[e]ffective December 10,
2018, each account referred to TOP is checked weekly to verify
whether a borrower defense
application has been filed. If such application has been filed,
the account will be removed from
TOP and put into forbearance or stopped collection status,” id.
¶ 6, but did not describe what the
Secretary considered a borrower defense application. The Status
Report, together with the
Secretary’s December 12, 2018 letter, created ambiguity about
the Department’s compliance
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with the Order, specifically about whether it was treating the
DTR as a borrower defense
application. The federal government then shut down between
December 22, 2018 and January
25, 2019, and the case did not proceed during this time
period.
On February 14, 2019, counsel for the Commonwealth sent a letter
confirming its
understanding that the Secretary was not treating the DTR as a
defense to repayment application
by each borrower listed in Exhibit 4 for purposes of involuntary
collection and asked the
Secretary to let it know if its understanding of her position
was incorrect. See Second AG Letter,
attached as Ex. C. Counsel for the Secretary responded on
February 20, 2019, as follows: “the
Secretary does not interpret the Court’s October 24, 2018 Order
(ECF No. 99) in the above-
captioned action as requiring the Department of Education to
take any action with respect to any
individuals other than the two named Plaintiffs in this matter.”
See Second DeVos Letter,
attached as Ex. D.
While the Commonwealth was conferring with Plaintiffs and
Defendant about this
motion and waiting for Defendant’s position, the parties filed a
joint notice of settlement in
principal. See Dkt. No. 112. The notice states that the “parties
require additional time to finalize
the terms of the settlement and execute a settlement agreement.”
Id. In other words, no
settlement has been finalized. As discussed below, this notice
of settlement in principal
demonstrates the clear need for the Commonwealth to enforce or
intervene to protect the
interests of the other 7,200 borrowers listed in Exhibit 4.
ARGUMENT
The Secretary is not complying with the Order and is instead
ignoring the Court’s clear
conclusion that the DTR is a borrower defense claim on behalf of
the borrowers listed in Exhibit
4. This Court should compel compliance to the Order, either by
granting the Commonwealth’s
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motion to enforce as a non-party pursuant to Rule 71 or its
motion to intervene. As discussed
below, the Court has ample authority to compel full compliance
with respect to all borrowers
listed in Exhibit 4, not just the two named Plaintiffs.
I. THE COMMONWEALTH IS ENTITLED TO COMPEL THE SECRETARY TO
COMPLY WITH THE ORDER PURSUANT TO RULE 71
The Court should compel the Department to comply with its Order
because (i) the
Commonwealth can enforce the Order pursuant to Federal Rule of
Civil Procedure 71; and (ii)
the record establishes that the Department is not in compliance
with the Order.
A. The Commonwealth Can Enforce the Order
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 71 states in full that “[w]hen
an order grants relief for a
nonparty or may be enforced against a nonparty, the procedure
for enforcing the order is the
same as for a party.” Rule 71, which has been in place in
essentially identical form since 1937,1
was drafted for situations exactly like this one, where a
court’s order has been made to the
benefit of a nonparty. See, e.g., Judicial Watch Inc. v. United
States Dep’t of Commerce, 34 F.
Supp. 2d 28, 43 (D.C Cir. 1998) (“‘It seems clear that Rule 71
was intended to assure that
process be made available to enforce court orders in favor of
and against persons who are
properly affected by them, even if they are not parties to the
action.’”) (quoting Lasky v. Quinlan,
558 F.2d 1133, 1137 (2d Cir. 1977)); see also 12 Charles Alan
Wright, Arthur R. Miller, and
Mary Kay Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure § 3032 (3d ed.
2018) (describing in what
circumstances a non-party can bring an action under Rule 71).
This means that a nonparty
granted relief in an order may enforce obedience by a motion to
compel. Brennan v. Nassau
County, 352 F.3d 60, 65 (2d Cir. 2003) (citation omitted).
1 It was amended in 1987 to make technical adjustments and again
in 2007 to make further stylistic changes. Neither amendment was
intended to change the substance of Rule 71. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 71,
Advisory Committee Notes.
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Here the Commonwealth seeks to compel consideration of the DTR,
the very subject of
the Order. The Court specifically noted that the DTR required
the Secretary to render a decision
on the merits of the two named Plaintiffs, and broadly stated
that the DTR invoked a borrower
defense proceeding on behalf of all borrowers included in
Exhibit 4. In addition, the Order
clearly grants the Commonwealth relief, as it provides that the
DTR invoked a borrower defense
proceeding, was within the Attorney General’s authority to make,
and required consideration
before the Department certified borrower debt for collection.
Dkt. No. 99 at 29.
In similar circumstances, courts have allowed nonparties to
enforce consent decrees,
judgments, or other orders to vindicate their rights. For
instance, in Berger v. Heckler, 771 F.2d
1556 (2d Cir. 1985), the court entered a consent decree
directing the Secretary of Health and
Human Services to make Social Security payments to certain
immigrants. The consent decree
provided a particular construction of the Supplemental Security
Income (SSI) eligibility
provision, which benefited other unnamed applicants. The Second
Circuit determined that these
unnamed but similarly situated individuals were permitted to
intervene and seek to have the
Secretary held in contempt pursuant to Rule 71 when the
Secretary did not comply with the
consent decree. Id. at 1565. Similarly, in California Dept. of
Social Services v. Leavitt, 444 F.
Supp. 2d 1088 (E.D. Cal. 2006), judgment aff’d in part, rev’d in
part, 523 F.3d 1025 (9th Cir.
2008), the court held that foster families, though nonparties,
could move pursuant to Rule 71 to
enforce a prior judgment ordering retroactive payment of welfare
benefits. These foster families
had foster care cases open after the court ordered the state
Department of Social Services to
review all open foster care cases for determination of welfare
eligibility in accordance with the
judgment. Id. at 1098.
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http://www.westlaw.com/Link/Document/FullText?findType=Y&serNum=2015883841&pubNum=0000506&originatingDoc=Ia1eb070b4b1211dab83abce0f17e0f80&refType=RP&originationContext=document&vr=3.0&rs=cblt1.0&transitionType=DocumentItem&contextData=(sc.History*oc.Keycite)http://www.westlaw.com/Link/Document/FullText?findType=Y&serNum=2015883841&pubNum=0000506&originatingDoc=Ia1eb070b4b1211dab83abce0f17e0f80&refType=RP&originationContext=document&vr=3.0&rs=cblt1.0&transitionType=DocumentItem&contextData=(sc.History*oc.Keycite)
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Rule 71 is designed for these precise circumstances, when a
court order has been entered
providing the nonparty the relief it seeks and nothing remains
but enforcement. It is particularly
true here, where the parties have filed notice of settlement and
Plaintiffs presumably will no
longer seek relief under the Order. If the Commonwealth is not
able to enforce the Order
pursuant to Rule 71 or otherwise intervene, it will have to file
an independent action to re-litigate
matters already decided by the Court. Such an action would be
duplicative and a waste of
judicial resources.
B. The Secretary is Not Complying with the Order
Because the Secretary is not complying with the Order,
enforcement by the
Commonwealth under Rule 71 is warranted. The Court concluded
that the DTR submission
“invoked the administrative remedy of Education’s review process
such that Education was
required to adjudicate the request.” Dkt. No. 99 at 20. In order
to “comply with governing law
as declared by the Court,” Dkt. No. 35, the Secretary must, at a
minimum, ensure that each
individual listed in Exhibit 4 does not have an account
certified for collection through Treasury
Offset.
Both explicit and implicit in the remedy ordered by the Court is
the conclusion that the
DTR invokes a borrower defense proceeding on behalf of all the
people listed in Exhibit 4. The
Court explicitly concluded that the DTR invoked a borrower
defense proceeding on behalf of all
of these individuals. Dkt. No. 99 at 29. Beyond that, the
Court’s conclusion that “Attorney
General Healey’s letter, Dkt. No. 47-1, required the Secretary
to render a decision on the merits
of Williams and Taveras’s borrower defenses” in turn means that
a decision must be rendered by
all affected Corinthian students. Id. at 30. Neither Plaintiff
is identified uniquely in any way in
the DTR. They are similarly situated to the other 7,200
individuals listed in Exhibit 4. In fact,
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they are not even among those students who submitted
individualized borrower defense claims in
connection with the DTR. Thus, there is no way to differentiate
Plaintiffs from the other
individuals listed in Exhibit 4. In other words, consideration
of the DTR for Plaintiffs is
consideration of the DTR for all former Corinthian students
listed in Exhibit 4. As the court
noted in Feld v. Berger, 424 F. Supp. 1356 (S.D.N.Y.1976), while
concluding that class
certification was unnecessary where plaintiffs sought injunctive
and declarative relief against
certain practices,
The defendants are public officials charged with compliance with
and enforcement of federal as well as state laws. The Court assumes
these public officials, mindful of their responsibilities, will
apply the determination here made equally to all persons similarly
situated. “[I]t would be unthinkable that the . . . defendants
would insist on other actions being brought” to vindicate the same
rights at issue here.
Id. at 1363 (footnote omitted) (quoting Vulcan Soc’y v. Civil
Serv. Comm’n, 490 F.2d 387, 399
(2d Cir.1973)).
Nevertheless, the Department has implemented the Order only with
respect to Mr.
Williams and Ms. Tavares. Thus, it continues involuntary
collections against borrowers identical
in all respects with the named Plaintiffs here. The Department’s
cramped interpretation of the
Order is incorrect and it must be compelled to comply.
II. IN THE ALTERNATIVE, THE COMMONWEALTH IS ENTITLED TO
INTERVENE IN THIS ACTION
Should the Court conclude that the Commonwealth is not entitled
to relief pursuant to
Rule 71, the Commonwealth alternatively requests intervention
into this matter. The
Commonwealth is entitled to intervene both as a matter of right
and through the exercise of the
Court’s discretion for permissive intervention.2
2 The Commonwealth notes it has not filed a proposed pleading
along with its motion. The First Circuit has rejected a
hyper-technical reading of Rule 24(c), which calls on putative
intervenors to serve on the parties “a pleading that
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A. The Commonwealth Has a Right to Intervene
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a)(2) allows intervention as
of right for any party that
“claims an interest relating to the property or transaction that
is the subject of the action, and is
so situated that disposing of the action may as a practical
matter impair or impede the movant’s
ability to protect its interest, unless existing parties
adequately represent that interest.” The First
Circuit applies the following four-factor test under the Rule:
“a would-be intervenor must
demonstrate that: (i) its motion is timely; (ii) it has an
interest relating to the property or
transaction that forms the foundation of the ongoing action;
(iii) the disposition of the action
threatens to impair or impede its ability to protect this Case;
and (iv) no existing party adequately
represents its interest.” Ungar v. Arafat, 634 F.3d 46, 50 (1st
Cir. 2011) (citation omitted). The
Commonwealth satisfies each of these factors.
1. The Commonwealth’s motion is timely
The Commonwealth has moved in timely fashion to intervene.
Timeliness, which “is of
first importance,” United Nuclear Corp. v. Cannon, 696 F.2d 141,
143 (1st Cir. 1982), is
determined by considering “the totality of the relevant
circumstances,” Banco Popular de Puerto
Rico v. Greenblatt, 964 F.2d 1227, 1230 (1st Cir. 1992)
(citations omitted). Post-judgment
intervention is proper, and often permitted, where the
prospective intervenor’s interest does not
arise until after a judgment is entered. See Acree v. Republic
of Iraq, 370 F.3d 41, 50 (D.C. Cir.
2004), abrogated on other grounds by Republic of Iraq v. Beaty,
556 U.S. 848 (2009) (citing 7C
sets out the claim or defense for which intervention is sought.”
See Peaje Invs. LLC v. García-Padilla, 845 F.3d 505, 515 (1st Cir.
2017) (noting that “[s]everal circuits, including our own, have
eschewed overly technical readings of Rule 24(c)” and concluding
that “denial of a motion to intervene based solely on the movant’s
failure to attach a pleading, absent prejudice to any party,
constitutes an abuse of discretion.”). Where the intervenor does
not attach a pleading, the Court “[relies] on facts made manifest
in the record as a whole.” In re Efron, 746 F.3d 30, 32 (1st Cir.
2014). The Commonwealth is seeking relief based on a prior order of
this Court. The filing of an additional pleading, namely a separate
complaint, does not make appear to make sense at this stage of the
litigation.
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Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller, and Mary Kay Kane,
Federal Practice and Procedure §
1916 (2d ed. 1986)).
The case law reflects four factors that inform the timeliness
inquiry: “(i) the length of
time that the putative intervenor knew or reasonably should have
known that his interests were at
risk before he moved to intervene; (ii) the prejudice to
existing parties should intervention be
allowed; (iii) the prejudice to the putative intervenor should
intervention be denied; and (iv) any
special circumstances militating for or against intervention.” R
& G Mortgage v. Fed. Home
Loan Mortg. Corp., 584 F.3d 1, 7 (1st Cir. 2009) (citation
omitted).
The Commonwealth has moved promptly after learning its interests
were at risk. The
Commonwealth did not learn that the Secretary was not complying
with the Order (or at least did
consider herself bound to follow the Order with respect to
anyone other than the two named
Plaintiffs) until at least February 5. Subsequently, the
Commonwealth wrote to confirm its
understanding on February 14, 2019, and heard back from the
Secretary on February 20, 2019.
The Commonwealth has moved expeditiously while attempting to
avoid utilization of the Court
to resolve the dispute. Since the purpose of intervention
relates specifically to compliance with
the Order, timeliness should be gauged based on when the
Commonwealth was able to ascertain
the Secretary’s non-compliance and unable to persuade the
Secretary to change positions.
There is no prejudice to the other parties should intervention
be allowed. Plaintiffs assent
to the Commonwealth’s motion and presumably see no prejudice to
their position; in fact the
Commonwealth’s position is consistent with the relief that
Plaintiffs have sought. There is no
prejudice to Defendant either; all that the Commonwealth
requests is that the Secretary comply
with the Order and governing law as declared by the Court. It is
difficult to argue that this could
prejudice the Secretary. See Feld, 424 F.Supp. at 1363 (“[I]t
would be unthinkable that the . . .
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[public official] defendants would insist on other actions being
brought to vindicate the same
rights at issue here.”) (internal quotation marks and citation
omitted).
The Commonwealth would be prejudiced if intervention were not
granted. As discussed
in Section II.A.2 below, it has important interests in this
action in vindicating its right to submit
borrower defense to repayment claims and advocate on behalf of
defrauded Massachusetts
students. This is an important matter of public policy which is
a special circumstance auguring
in favor of intervention.
2. The Commonwealth has important interests in this action
The Commonwealth has sufficient interests in this action to
justify intervention as of
right. To satisfy this second requirement, the movant must
identify an interest “relating to the
property or transaction that is the subject of the action.” Fed.
R. Civ. P. 24(a)(2). The interest
must be “direct” and “significantly protectable,” Ungar, 634
F.3d at 51 (quoting Donaldson v.
United States, 400 U.S. 517, 531 (1971)), but it need not “be of
a legal nature identical to that of
claims asserted in the main action,” In re Lopez Soto, 764 F.2d
23, 26 (1st Cir. 1985) (citation
omitted).
Here, the Commonwealth has clear interests in this action. As
discussed in detail in
Section I.A above, the Court concluded that the DTR was a
borrower defense submission made
on behalf of each borrower listed in Exhibit 4, namely, every
Massachusetts student defrauded
by Corinthian. Thousands of these students live in the
Commonwealth and are burdened by
debts that impact their financial wellbeing and that of their
families, in communities across
Massachusetts. The Commonwealth also has a clear interest in the
vindication of its authority
through the Attorney General to submit borrower defenses to
repayment, and to have such
applications considered by the Department. Allowing the
Department to escape its obligations to
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properly consider the DTR would undermine the Commonwealth’s
ability to protect all
consumers in Massachusetts from unfair and deceptive practices
by predatory for-profit schools
and to ensure a level playing field for the many high-quality
institutions of higher education
based in our state.
The Commonwealth anticipates that in opposition Defendant may
refer to the dismissal
of an earlier action in the District of Columbia, Massachusetts,
et al. v. U.S. Dep’t of Education,
et al., No. 17-CV-07106, Dkt. No. 30 (D.D.C. 2018), on standing
grounds. This case differs
greatly from the prior litigation; most notably, here the
Commonwealth is seeking to enforce an
existing Order and ensure recognition of its right through the
Attorney General to submit
borrower defense to repayment claims to the Department, and to
have such applications
considered by the Department. The Commonwealth seeks to
vindicate a right that this Court has
already concluded it has. By contrast, in the dismissed matter
the Commonwealth and other
states sought to challenge all collections against borrowers in
cohorts where the Department had
issued finding. See id., Dkt. No. 21 at 30–31. It was a
different case with a broader focus. The
district court’s conclusion there has no bearing on the issues
before this Court. The
Commonwealth’s interest here could not be clearer.
3. The Commonwealth’s interests will be impaired absent
intervention.
The Commonwealth needs to intervene in order that its interests
not be impaired. In
addition to establishing a sufficient interest in the subject of
the action, the proposed intervenor
must demonstrate that disposition of that action may, as a
practical matter, “impair[s] or
impede[s] its ability to protect this interest.” Fed. R. Civ. P.
24(a)(2). In determining whether
this requirement is met, courts consider “the practical
consequences of denying intervention.”
Fund for Animals, Inc. v. Norton, 322 F.3d 728, 735 (D.C. Cir.
2003) (citation and internal
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quotation omitted); accord Daggett v. Comm’n on Governmental
Ethics & Election Practices,
172 F.3d 104, 110-11 (1st Cir. 1999) (holding that “‘practical’
test of adverse effect that governs
under Rule 24(a)” was “easily satisfied” by showing that
proposed intervenor’s interests would
be “adversely affected” if lawsuit were lost). In Massachusetts,
the Attorney General has a broad
statutory and common law mandate to represent the public
interest. Attorney General v. Dime
Sav. Bank, 413 Mass. 284, 287 (1992). An action by the Attorney
General uniquely protects the
interests of the Commonwealth in challenging the Secretary’s
actions. An adverse ruling in this
litigation may create negative precedent concerning the Attorney
General’s ability to vindicate
her right to have her submissions considered and to advance the
interests of other defrauded
borrowers harmed in Massachusetts.
4. Existing parties do not adequately represent the
Commonwealth’s interests.
Finally, no existing party adequately represents all of the
Commonwealth’s interests in
this matter. The burden of showing that a proposed intervenor’s
interests will not be adequately
represented by existing parties is a “minimal” one. See Trbovich
v. United Mine Workers, 404
U.S. 528, 538 n.10 (1972); Maine v. Director, U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Serv., 262 F.3d 13, 18 (1st
Cir. 2001). The intervenor “need only show that representation
may be inadequate, not that it is
inadequate.” Conservation Law Found. of N. Eng. v. Mosbacher,
966 F.2d 39, 44 (1st Cir. 1992)
(citing Trbovich, 404 U.S. at 538 n.10). Here, the Commonwealth
more than satisfies that
minimal burden. Its interests are “sufficiently different in
kind or degree from those” of
Plaintiffs such that its interests cannot be represented. B.
Fernandez & Hnos., Inc. v. Kellogg
USA, Inc., 440 F.3d 541, 546 (1st Cir. 2006) (citations
omitted).
First, the Commonwealth has an interest in ensuring that the DTR
be properly considered
a borrower defense on behalf of all borrowers listed in Exhibit
4. In contrast, named Plaintiffs
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have a specific interest in their own economic well-being and
garnering their own relief. An
outcome in this case that forgave Plaintiffs’ debts but left
thousands of other defrauded
Massachusetts borrowers facing involuntary collection may well
be in their interests but does not
achieve the Commonwealth’s interests here. The fact that the
parties have filed a notice of
settlement (although no final settlement has been reached), Dkt.
No. 112, demonstrates all the
more clearly that the Commonwealth’s interests are not
represented by the existing parties.
Second, the Commonwealth has sovereign interests that no other
party could represent,
including having the Attorney General’s authority as chief law
enforcer properly considered.
See, e.g., Massachusetts v. E.P.A., 549 U.S. 497, 520 (2007)
(state interests are entitled to
“special solicitude”). As the Court noted in its Order,
“Attorney General Healey stands in very
different shoes than a private lawyer seeking relief on behalf
of a class of individuals whose
interests the private lawyer does not, by virtue of public
office, routinely and presumptively
represent . . . .” Dkt. No. 99 at 23.
Consequently, no existing party can be expected to adequately
represent the
Commonwealth’s specific interests in this matter.
B. The Court Should Exercise its Discretion to Grant Permissive
Intervention
Even if the Court concludes that the Commonwealth does not meet
the standard for
intervention as of right, it should nevertheless exercise its
discretion to permit the
Commonwealth to intervene in this litigation. See, e.g., Morra
v. Casey, 960 F. Supp. 2d 335,
338 (D. Mass. 2013) (concluding that while proposed intervenor
was not entitled to intervene as
of right, “[n]evertheless, the court may allow [the proposed
intervenor] to intervene under Rule
24(b)(2)”). Permissive intervention is appropriate where a party
“has a claim or defense that
shares with the main action a common question of law or fact.”
Fed. R. Civ. P. 24(b)(1)(B).
Courts have “broad discretion” in deciding whether or not to
grant permissive intervention under
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Rule 24(b). Travelers Indem. Co. v. Dingwell, 884 F.2d 629, 641
(1st Cir. 1989). The First
Circuit has articulated three factors to be considered in
determining whether permissive
intervention is warranted, including whether: “(i) the
applicant’s claim or defense and the main
action have a question of law or fact in common; (ii) the
applicant’s interests are not adequately
represented by an existing party; and (iii) intervention would
not result in undue delay or
prejudice to the original parties.” In re Thompson, 965 F.2d
1136, 1142 n.10 (1st Cir. 1992)
(citation omitted). For the reasons discussed above, the
Commonwealth satisfies all three of
these considerations. The Commonwealth’s claim directly follows
from the Order in the main
action. Further, the Commonwealth’s interests are broadly
implicated by the Secretary’s refusal
to consider the DTR, and those interests are not adequately
represented by the individual
plaintiffs who look (naturally) to their own best interests.
Finally, allowing the Commonwealth
to intervene would not delay any aspect of this proceeding nor
cause any prejudice to the existing
parties because the Commonwealth seeks only to enforce the
existing Order and/or ensure
compliance with governing law as declared by this Court. In
fact, Plaintiffs have assented to the
motion, showing they see no prejudice.
C. The Commonwealth Moves to Intervene to Enforce Compliance
with the Order and Governing Law as Declared by the Court
The Commonwealth’s position is that the Order is clear and that
it covers all
Massachusetts borrowers listed in Exhibit 4 to the DTR. But even
if the Court concludes
otherwise, it has the authority to (and should) amend the Order
to cover all of these borrowers
and ensure compliance with governing law.
As discussed above, while granting a portion of the motion to
dismiss relating to
Plaintiffs’ request for injunctive relief or relief on behalf of
persons other than Williams and
Taveras, the Court noted that it “renders the first portion of
its ruling in light of the presumption
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that the defendant, a public official, will act in good faith
and comply with governing law as
declared by the Court.” Dkt. No. 35. It is clear that the
Secretary is not doing so, or at very least
does not consider herself bound to do so, and has made no
assurances that it will comply with
governing law.
This set of circumstances is not unprecedented, and this Court
has ample discretion to
ensure compliance with governing law in addition to simply
ordering compliance with the Order.
See 7A Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller, and Mary Kay Kane,
Federal Practice and
Procedure § 1785.2 (3d ed. 2018) (“In some of these cases the
assumption that [government]
defendants would readily comply with respect to all affected
persons proved unfounded. This
resulted in renewed litigation, with class certification then
being allowed because the need to
bind defendant to a judgment on behalf of the entire class was
apparent”). While in some of the
cases discussed below, the courts responded to non-compliance
(or the risk of non-compliance)
with governing law by granting class certification, this Court
can achieve the same result by
granting the Commonwealth’s motion to intervene and clarifying
for the Secretary that the Order
covers all similarly situated Massachusetts borrowers. The
Commonwealth is well-positioned to
represent the interests of the borrowers listed in Exhibit 4;
indeed the Attorney General
submitted the DTR through her role as the Commonwealth’s chief
law enforcer. See Sec’y of
Admin. & Fin. v. Att’y Gen., 367 Mass. 154, 159 (1975).
Courts have not indulged governmental defendants who comply with
the letter of an
order but do not extend relief to similarly situated
individuals. In Bizjak v. Blum, 490 F. Supp
1297 (N.D.N.Y. 1980), the plaintiffs challenged case-record
access restrictions in fair hearings
involving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (“AFDC”) and
the Medical-Assistance
programs. The court granted class certification to the
plaintiffs because of the defendant’s
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history of noncompliance with state-court decisions on this
question and the defendant’s refusal
to assure that she would not continue to enforce the
restrictions in the face of an individual
determination. Id. at 1301. Another federal court came to the
same conclusion in another case
involving the same defendant. In Ram v. Blum, 533 F. Supp. 933
(S.D.N.Y. 1982), the court
approved class certification in a case challenging New York’s
method for calculating the amount
of the monthly grant to families through the AFDC program. The
court noted that it granted
class certification at least in part because the defendant made
no commitment to providing relief
granted to the named plaintiff across the wider class, and in
fact evinced the intention not to
provide relief to the broader class. Id. at 939. Other courts
have required governmental
defendants to provide positive assurance they intend comply with
the court’s order with respect
to other similarly situated individuals. See Catanzano by
Catanzano v. Dowling, 847 F. Supp.
1070, 1079 (W.D.N.Y. 1994) (citing Doe v. Coughlin, 697 F. Supp.
1234, 1235 n. 4 (N.D.N.Y.
1988)); Calkins v. Blum, 511 F. Supp. 1073, 1089–90
(N.D.N.Y.1981), aff’d, 675 F.2d 44 (2d
Cir. 1982). See also Kansas Health Care Ass’n, Inc. v. Kansas
Dept. of Social and
Rehabilitation Services, 822 F. Supp. 687, 689 (D. Kans. 1993)
(denying class certification
because “[w]e have no reason to doubt that defendants would
apply any changes made to the
reimbursement formula uniformly to nursing homes in
Kansas”).
In this case, the Secretary has already made evident that she
does not consider herself
bound to comply with the governing law as declared by the Court.
If the Court concludes that
the Order did not cover all individuals listed in Exhibit 4, it
should allow the Commonwealth’s
motion to intervene and expand the Order to cover each
individual listed in Exhibit 4.
CONCLUSION
Based on the foregoing, the Commonwealth moves this Court to
compel compliance with
its Order, or in the alternative, grant its motion to intervene.
The Department should be barred
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from involuntary collection against borrowers listed in Exhibit
4 of the DTR until it renders a
decision of the merits of the borrower defenses, including
consideration of the borrower defenses
asserted in the DTR.
Respectfully submitted,
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY
/s/ Timothy S. Hoitink
Glenn S. Kaplan (BBO No. 567308) Timothy S. Hoitink (BBO No.
672661) Assistant Attorneys General Insurance and Financial
Services Division Public Protection and Advocacy Bureau Office of
the Attorney General One Ashburton Place Boston, MA 02108 (617)
963-2453 (Kaplan) (617) 963-2465 (Hoitink) [email protected]
Dated: February 26, 2019 [email protected]
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I, Timothy S. Hoitink, hereby certify
that this document filed through the ECF system will be sent
electronically to the registered participants as identified on the
Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF) and paper copies will be sent to
those indicated as non-registered participants by First Class Mail.
Dated: February 26, 2019 /s/ Timothy S. Hoitink x Timothy S.
Hoitink
Case 1:16-cv-11949-LTS Document 116 Filed 02/26/19 Page 19 of
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The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office of the Attorney
General
One Ashburton Place Boston, Massachusetts 02108
Maura Healey Attorney General
TEL: (617) 727-2200 www.mass.gov/ago
November 28, 2018
The Honorable Elisabeth DeVos United States Department of
Education 400 Maryland Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20202
Re: Defense to Repayment Application
Dear Secretary DeVos:
I write to confirm that the Department of Education (the
“Department”) intends to fully comply with the District Court’s
decision in Williams v. DeVos, 16-CV-l 1949 (D. Mass. Oct. 24,
2018), ECF No. 99 (enclosed), and review and consider this Office’s
Defense to Repayment Application dated November 25, 2015 (the
“DTR”) submitted on behalf of students defrauded by Corinthian
Colleges, Inc. (“Corinthian”). In addition, we are seeking your
immediate confirmation that no involuntary collection activity
against any borrower identified in the DTR will occur prior to the
completion of this review. In particular, the Department should not
certify or recertify debts for administrative offset or wage
garnishment and should vacate any existing certifications.
The DTR submission arose out of the largest educational fraud in
the history of this country. Corinthian’s misconduct resulted in
hundreds of thousands of borrowers across the United States being
saddled with mountains of debt in exchange for worthless, and often
uncompleted, educational programs. The DTR explained in significant
detail Corinthian’s illegal actions in Massachusetts, included over
2,700 pages of supporting evidence, and specifically identified in
Exhibit 4 more than 7,000 students entitled to federal loan
discharges. Exhibit 4 provided the names, contact information,
campus attended, program, credential level, and enrollment date for
each applicable student. There is no dispute that Corinthian
defrauded its students; the Department itself has determined that
Corinthian misrepresented job placement rates for many of its
programs. The DTR submission included substantial evidence
regarding Corinthian’s inflated job placement statistics,
high-pressure sales tactics, and poor educational quality.
Furthermore, our office obtained a wide-ranging state court
judgment against the school for violations of the Massachusetts
Consumer Protection Act, which we previously provided to you.
In Williams v. DeVos, the District Court concluded that the
Attorney General’s Office may submit borrower defense claims and
supporting evidence on behalf of Massachusetts residents:
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http://www.mass.gov/ago
-
Andrew E. LellingUnited States Attorney District of
Massachusetts
U.S. Department of Justice
Main Reception: (617) 748-3100 John Joseph Moakley United States
Courthouse 1 Courthouse Way, Suite 9200 Boston, Massachusetts
02210
December 12, 2018
By Email and First Class MailGlenn Kaplan, Esq.Assistant
Attorney General Office of the Attorney General Commonwealth of
Massachusetts One Ashburton Place Boston, MA 02108
Re: Williams at al. v. DeVos, Civil Action No. 16-11949-LTS
Dear Attorney Kaplan:
I am in receipt of the letter dated November 28, 2018 that you
sent to my client, Secretary Elisabeth DeVos, regarding the Court’s
October 24, 2018 Order in the above-captioned litigation
(“Order”).
As you are aware, in its Order, the Court:
(1) allow[ed] in part and deni[ed] in part the [67] plaintiffs’
Motion for Judgment, as described below;
(2) denie[d] the [80] Secretary’s Motion for Judgment;
(3) vacate[d] the certifications for offset as to Williams and
Taveras;
(4) declarefd] that Attorney General Healey’s letter, Doc. No.
47-1, required the Secretary to render a decision on the merits of
Williams and Taveras’s borrower defenses;
(5) remand[ed] this matter to the Secretary for redetermination
of her certification decision, including consideration of the
borrower defense asserted by Attorney General Healey’s letter, Doc.
No. 47-1, on behalf of Williams and Taveras;
(6) order[ed] the Secretary to report on the status and timing
of her decision in 60 days (12/24/2018); and
Case 1:16-cv-11949-LTS Document 116-2 Filed 02/26/19 Page 1 of
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Glenn Kaplan, Esq. Assistant Attorney General Page 2
(7) retain[ed] jurisdiction of this matter in the event of an
appeal from or challenge to the administrative decision ordered by
paragraph 5 and any subsequent decision regarding certification for
offset as to Williams and Taveras.
Williams at al. v. DeVos, Civil Action No. 16-11949-LTS, ECF No.
99. The Secretary intends to comply with the letter of the Court’s
Order and, accordingly, will describe her compliance efforts a
status report filed with the Court on or before December 24,
2018.
Please contact me directly should you have any further concerns
regarding this litigation.
Very truly yours,
/s/ Jessica P. Driscoll
Jessica P. DriscollAssistant United States Attorney
Case 1:16-cv-11949-LTS Document 116-2 Filed 02/26/19 Page 2 of
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[T]he Court finds that Attorney General Healey’s DTR submission
was sufficient to require the Secretary to determine the validity
of the plaintiffs’ borrower defense. It rejects the Secretary’s
assertion that Attorney General Healey needed a signed statement
(or its equivalent) from each individual borrower before the DTR
could invoke borrower defense proceedings on each identified
student’sbehalf.
16-CV-l 1949, ECF No. 99, at *24. This conclusion follows
clearly from Massachusetts law. As the Commonwealth’s chief law
enforcer, the Attorney General has the duty and obligation to
represent the public interest and the legal interests of its
citizens. See Sec ’y of Admin. & Fin. v. Attorney Gen., 326
N.E.2d 334, 338 (Mass. 1975) (“The Attorney General. . . has a
common law duty to represent the public interest.”); M.G.L c. 12, §
10 (“[The Attorney General] shall take cognizance of all violations
of law or of orders of courts, tribunals or commissions affecting
the general welfare of the people . ...”). The borrower defense
regulation pursuant to which this Office submitted these borrower
claims, 34 C.F.R. § 685.206(c), does not include or describe a
specific form that must be submitted to present a borrower defense
to repayment claim, nor limit itself to claims made directly by the
borrower him or herself. The Department has no valid reason to
reject the DTR submission on behalf of Massachusetts borrowers.
It is arbitrary and capricious for the Department to ignore
these claims when instituting involuntary collection. The decision
of an agency must be based upon on “a consideration of the relevant
factors.” Marsh v. Or. Natural Res. Council, 490 U.S. 360, 378
(1989). To seize a defrauded student’s tax refund and garnish her
wages without reviewing the evidence and defenses submitted on her
behalf is the very definition of arbitrary and capricious. Williams
v. DeVos, 16-CV-l 1949, ECF No. 99, at *29 (vacating the
Department’s certification of plaintiffs’ debts because the DTR was
not considered). Nor can the District Court’s order be limited to
only the two named plaintiffs in that case; the Court made clear
that the Attorney General’s Office has submitted borrower defense
to repayment claims on behalf of all borrowers listed in Exhibit 4
to the DTR. See id. If it is arbitrary and capricious to ignore the
DTR with respect to the two named plaintiffs, then it is arbitrary
and capricious to ignore the DTR with respect to other similarly
situated borrowers. The Department must reverse its unlawful
actions.
The Department must cease all involuntary collection against the
defrauded borrowers listed in Exhibit 4 of the DTR and render
decisions on the merits of the defenses raised on behalf of all of
the individuals covered by the DTR. Please have an appropriate
Department official contact me at (617) 963-2453 or
[email protected] by Wednesday, December 12, 2018,
regarding this important issue. Thank you for your consideration
and attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Glenn KaplanAssistant Attorney GeneralInsurance and Financial
Services Division
Enclosure
2
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mailto:[email protected]
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTDISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
) DARNELL E. WILLIAMS and ) YESSENIA M. TAVERAS, ) )
Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) Civil No. 16-11949-LTS ) ELISABETH DEVOS,1
in her official ) capacity as Secretary of the U.S. ) Department of
Education, ) )
Defendant. ) )
ORDER ON MOTIONS FOR JUDGMENT
October 24, 2018
SOROKIN, J.
This case alleges that the Secretary of Education (“the
Secretary”) improperly certified
the student loan debts of plaintiffs Darnell Williams and
Yessenia Taveras as legally enforceable
for purposes of referral to the U.S. Department of the
Treasury’s Treasury Offset Program
(“TOP”). Doc. No. 5. In January 2017, the Secretary moved to
dismiss the case for lack of
jurisdiction, arguing, inter alia, that the plaintiffs’ claims
are barred for failure to exhaust, and
that Taveras’s claims should be dismissed as unripe. Doc. Nos.
18, 19. Williams and Taveras
opposed, Doc. No. 22, and the Attorney General of Massachusetts,
Maura Healey, filed an
amicus brief in support of the opposition, Doc. No. 29. The
Court allowed the Secretary’s motion
insofar as the Amended Complaint, Doc. No. 5, sought injunctive
relief or relief on behalf of
persons other than Williams and Taveras and denied the motion in
all other respects pending
1 See Fed. R. Civ. P. 25(d) (providing for automatic
substitution of successor to public official).
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filing of the administrative record. Doc. No. 35. The Secretary
filed the administrative record on
November 17, 2017. Doc. No. 43.2 The plaintiffs subsequently
filed a document from Attorney
General Healey that was in the Secretary’s possession when she
certified the plaintiffs’ debts for
Treasury offset and moved to include it in the administrative
record. Docs. No. 47-1, 46. Now
before the Court are the parties’ cross-motions for judgment on
the record. Doc. Nos. 67, 80.
I. BACKGROUND
A. Facts3
The now-defunct Corinthian College was a large, for-profit
company that formally
operated post-secondary schools around the country, including
Everest Institute in Massachusetts
(“Everest”). Doc. No. 81 at 4; 81 Fed. Reg. 39,330, 39,335 (June
16, 2016). According to
Attorney General Healey, between 2007 and 2015, Corinthian
College ran Everest, offering
courses in medical administration, medical insurance billing and
coding, dentistry, and massage
therapy. Doc. No. 47-1 at 3. Also according to Attorney General
Healey, Corinthian marketed
Everest to individuals who were unable to afford its programs,
and as a result, the vast majority
of students who attended Everest borrowed money from the federal
government under Title IV
of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (“Title IV”). Id. As of June
30, 2010, 89.9 percent of
Corinthian’s revenue came from Title IV loans. Id. at 4. In
2011, the Massachusetts Attorney
General’s Office initiated an investigation of Corinthian’s
Everest campuses. Id.
Plaintiffs Williams and Taveras are two former Corinthian
students. Williams attended
the Massage Therapy Program at Everest from March 29, 2011 to
December 28, 2011. Doc. No.
2 The administrative record, Doc. No. 43, will be cited as
“A.R.,” using the page numbers assigned by the agency that appear
in the lower right-hand corner of each page. 3 Except as noted
otherwise, these facts are undisputed.
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22-3 ¶ 3; Doc. No. 29-1 at 12; A.R. at 513.4 Taveras enrolled in
the Medical Assistant Program
at Everest on October 28, 2010 and graduated on July 14, 2011.
Doc. No. 29-1 at 12; Doc. No.
22-2 ¶ 3. To pay for their respective programs, Williams and
Taveras each obtained nearly
$10,000 in federal student loans through the Department of
Education (“Education”). A.R. at 1-
9, 509–11, 533–41; Doc. No. 19-2 ¶¶ 14–15.
Both plaintiffs defaulted on their student loans in the fall of
2014. A.R. at 488–89, 814–
15. Both sets of loans were then transferred to the Education’s
debt collection unit that winter.
A.R. at 509–11, 813–15. Then, in August 2015, Education sent
each plaintiff an identical notice
(“the notice”) of its intent to refer their debts to the TOP.
A.R. 490–95, 793–98; Doc. No. 19-2
¶¶ 12, 17.5 The notice stated:
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) holds one or more past
due, legally enforceable, defaulted student loans or grant claims
for which you are responsible. . . . ED will refer your debt to the
U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury), unless you pay this
debt in full, make satisfactory arrangement to repay it, or make a
timely, valid objection to enforcement of the debt. ED will request
that Treasury deduct the amount of this debt . . . from any payment
streams authorized by law. . . . These payment streams . . .
include . . . Federal and/or State income tax refunds[.]
A.R. at 797.
The notice advised in bold, underlined text that “Neither
[Education] nor Treasury
[would] provide an additional notice and opportunity to review
records or to object to
4 There is some discrepancy in the record as to whether Williams
graduated or withdrew from Everest. Compare A.R. at 513 (the
Secretary’s records listing Williams’s “Withdrawal Date” as
December 28, 2011), with Doc. No. 29-1 at 12 (the Massachusetts
Attorney General’s Office’s records listing Williams’s graduation
date as December 28, 2011). Williams, by affidavit before this
Court, has stated that he “graduated with a certificate in Massage
Therapy in December 2011.” Doc. No. 22-3 ¶ 3 (emphasis added). 5
Through TOP, the Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) may
collect a debt owed to an agency by reducing the amount of the
debtor’s tax refunds, if owed, by an amount equal to their debt and
then paying that amount to the agency. See 31 U.S.C. § 3701(a)(1)
(defining “administrative offset”); 31 C.F.R. § 285.2(a) (defining
“tax refund offset”).
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collection of [the] debt before a Treasury offset.” Id.
(emphasis in original). The notices
informed Williams and Taveras of their rights with respect to
the proposed offset, including the
rights to review documents, object to the amount or existence of
the debt, seek review by
Education of such objections, and have a lawyer represent them
in exercising their rights. Id.
With respect to the right to object, the notices advised
Williams and Taveras of various
objections they could make, including:
1) “The debt is not past due at this time;” 2) “The debt is not
legally enforceable against you at this time because, for
example,
you have filed bankruptcy and your case is still pending; the
debt was discharged in a past bankruptcy; the loan was canceled for
the death or disability;”
3) “The School owed you a refund for the period for which the
loan was made, but did not pay the refund, or paid only part of the
refund;” and
4) “The school you attended closed during the period for which
the loan was made, or you did not have a high school diploma or GED
and the school improperly determined that you could benefit from
its training.”
Id. This list identifies grounds that fall outside the scope of
the Secretary’s interpretation of “not
legally enforceable,” but does not specifically reference the
“borrower defense” defined in 34
C.F.R. § 685.206(c), which is discussed further below. The
objections listed are not defined as
exclusive.
The notices admonished that “[t]o have [Education] review your
objections to the
collection of the debt(s), you must make a written request for
review within 65 days of the date
of the Debt Statement,” id., but they also provided that a
review of certification for offset could
be obtained even if a person “miss[ed] the deadlines in [the]
Notice,” id. at 798. The notices did
not elaborate on the circumstances under which Education would
consider a late notice.
However, the notices further stated that, once Education
certifies a debt to Treasury for offset,
Education will not withdraw that request, even if a defense to
repayment is submitted, “until [the
person objecting] prove[s] that the debt is not legally
enforceable or not past-due.” Id. The
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notices additionally provided that, if a borrower presents
written objections to repayment,
Education will send “a written decision explaining whether
[Education] will collect the debt in
whole or in part, the reasons why, and the amount to be
collected,” and if the borrower disagrees
with Education’s decision, the borrower may have the “decision
reviewed by bringing a lawsuit
in Federal district court.” Id.
Additionally, attached to each notice was a “Request for Review”
form. Those forms
stated: “If you object to offset against your . . . tax refunds
. . . you can use this form[.]” Id. at
795. The forms included a list of objections to offset, advising
the debtor to check “the
objections that apply.” Id. The list included the same
objections described within the notices, as
well as the following additional objections:
1) “I do not owe the full amount shown because I repaid some or
all of this loan[;]” 2) “I am making payments on this loan as
required under the repayment agreement I
reached with the holder of the loan[;]” 3) “I am totally and
permanently disabled[;]” 4) “This is not my Social Security Number,
and I do not owe this loan[;]” 5) “I believe that [the school]
without my permission signed my name on the loan
application[;]” and6) a catch-all, “I believe that this loan is
not an enforceable debt6 in the amount
stated for the reason explained in the attached letter . . .
(for example, the loan was
6 During the hearing, counsel for the Secretary urged the Court
to construe a debt that is not “legally enforceable” for purposes
of 31 C.F.R. § 285.2(d), which enumerates the criterion for
referral of a debt to TOP, to include only those debts with legal
bars to collection—i.e., bars to collection created by statute or
Court stay. The meaning given to “not an enforceable debt” in the
Secretary’s form is broader than this construction. The sole
specific example provided in the form of “not an enforceable debt”
is “the loan was obtained by another person through the crime of
theft of your identity,” which is not a bar to collection created
by statute, Court order, or regulation, but rather a defense that
could be asserted in Court as a defense against repayment of a
loan. More generally, the form invites objection based upon “any
other reason not listed,” a ground nowhere limited by the “legally
enforceable” definition. The language in the Secretary’s form is
also different from that in her regulation, as the regulation
refers to legal enforceability, see 31 C.F.R. § 285.2(d) (emphasis
added), whereas the form refers only to enforceability more
generally. For this reason, and the further reason that the
catch-all also suggests identifying “any other reason,” the Court
construes the catch-all as encouraging the submission of objections
such as a borrower defense rather than merely legal bars to
collection.
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obtained by another person through the crime of theft of your
identity, or any other reason not listed above).”
Id. at 795–96. The objections listed on the review form, like
the objections recited in the notice
of proposed offset, do not specifically reference the “borrower
defense” defined in 34 C.F.R.
§ 685.206(c), although the form does include a catch-all
category which suggests submitting
“any other reason.”
The 65-day window to file a request for review, as described in
the notices received by
Williams and Taveras, expired in mid-October 2015. Neither filed
an objection prior to the
deadline. On November 30, 2015, after the 65-day window but
before Education’s certification
of the plaintiffs’ debts, Attorney General Healey wrote to the
Secretary. Doc. No. 29 at 1. She
had been investigating Corinthian for three years. Doc. No. 47-1
at 4. Based on the evidence
gathered during the investigation, she found “Corinthian engaged
in a pattern of unfair and
deceptive conduct in violation of Massachusetts consumer
protections laws,” and, on April 3,
2014, she filed a lawsuit against Corinthian in Suffolk Superior
Court on behalf of all Everest
students. Id. The action was stayed while Corinthian was in
bankruptcy proceedings and so, at
the time of Attorney General Healey’s writing to the Secretary,
was still ongoing. Id.
In this writing to the Secretary, which Attorney General Healey
calls a “defense to
repayment” application (“the DTR”),7 she requested “the
immediate discharge” of federal
student loans taken in connection with Everest, “full refunds to
borrowers of amounts paid on the
loans and the reversal of negative credit reporting.” Doc. No.
47-1 at 3. In support of her request,
Attorney General Healey attached exhibits with information from
former Everest students. Id. at
7 The Court refers to Attorney General Healey’s writing using
the name she gave the document in her amicus brief before the
Court. See Doc. No. 29.
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6. Among those are Exhibits 3 and 4, which are before the Court
either under seal or in redacted
form.
Exhibit 3 to the DTR is a collection of over 30 separate
documents, each concerning one
specific former Everest student. See Doc. No. 93.8 These DTR
forms submitted by Attorney
General Healey were not completed versions of Education’s
request for review form attached to
its notice of possible offset. However, the submitted forms did
include, as to each student, dates
of enrollment, contact and identifying information (including
Social Security numbers), a list of
deceptive practices of Everest with checkmarks next to those
practices that influenced the
specific student’s decision to attend, and the student’s
signature. Id. They also included, as to
each student, signed authorization for Attorney General Healey
to access information regarding
the status of the student’s loan(s) and to act on the student’s
behalf. Id. Regarding the Exhibit 3
students, the DTR requested that Education “review [the]
individual proffers [in Exhibit 3], as
supplemented by [Attorney General Healey’s] submission, and
promptly discharge the
applicants’ federal student loans.” Doc. No. 47-1 at 6. Exhibit
3 does not contain forms from
Taveras or Williams.
Williams and Taveras appear in Exhibit 4, which contains
information about an
additional 7,200 Everest students in the form of a spreadsheet
with a one-line entry for each
student. Doc. No. 47-1 at 6, Doc. No. 29-1 at 12. Each entry
includes the student’s name, dates
of enrollment, contact information, and programs attended. Doc.
No. 29-1 at 12. The entries do
not include the students’ Social Security numbers, nor do they
include statements from the
students as to how they were personally influenced by
Corinthian’s illegal conduct. Id. Attorney
8 Attorney General Healey provided Exhibit 3 to the Secretary
pursuant to a Common Interest Agreement that prevented its
disclosure. Doc. No. 93. Because Exhibit 3 is replete with former
students’ personally identifiable information, the Secretary filed
it with the Court under seal. Id.
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General Healey did not submit signed forms from the students
that appear on Exhibit 4. Attorney
General Healey requested in the DTR that Education “provide a
swift, wholesale, and automatic
discharge” of the federal student loans of all Everest students
in Massachusetts (presumably a
potentially larger group than the students listed on Exhibit 4),
including the 7,200 students shown
in Exhibit 4. Doc. No. 47-1 at 6. In a footnote, Attorney
General Healey also stated:
Given the enclosed evidence of widespread abuse, it is important
that the Department of Education automatically discharge the loans
of Corinthian’sMassachusetts borrowers, and not require borrowers
to submit individual applications. It is well beyond the resources
of borrowers to investigate cohort placement rates or aggregate
witness statements. Navigating defense to repayment applications
and gathering associated required documentation can also present
significant hurdles, particularly in the case of a closed school
like Corinthian. If the Department cannot create an automatic
discharge process, we urge the Department to put measures in place
to assist borrowers in asserting their individual defense to
repayment, as part of the debt collection process.
Id. at 6 n.5.
At the time Attorney General Healey submitted the DTR (and at
the time the Secretary
sent the notices to Williams and Taveras), the Secretary had a
regulation providing that “in any
proceeding to collect on a Direct Loan, the borrower may assert
as a defense against repayment,
any act or omission of the school attended by the student that
would give rise to a cause of action
against the school under applicable State law,” which
“proceedings include . . . [t]ax refund
offset proceedings.”34 C.F.R. § 685.206(c)(1). When a borrower
defense claim is successful, the
Secretary must “notif[y] the borrower that the borrower is
relieved of the obligation to repay all
or part of [her] loan[.]” Id. at § 685.206(c)(2).9 The notices
sent to Williams and Taveras did not
refer to this regulation.
9 The contracts that Williams and Taveras signed to receive
federal student loans also provided: “[Y]ou [the borrower] may
assert, as a defense against collection of your loan, that the
school did something wrong or failed to do something that it should
have done[.]” A.R. at 7.
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In the DTR, Attorney General Healey cited specifically this
regulation and asserted that
relief was due under it for each of the three described
categories of Everest students (students
listed on Exhibit 3, students listed on Exhibit 4, and all
students in Massachusetts) because
Corinthian had violated Massachusetts consumer protection laws,
thereby “providing Everest
MA students with defenses to repayment of their student loans.”
Doc. No. 47-1 at 5. She then
detailed—in a nearly 60-page discussion—the ways Corinthian had
violated Massachusetts laws
and deceived Everest students. See generally Doc. No. 47-1. For
instance, according to the DTR,
Corinthian misrepresented its in-field placement rates at
Everest, which Corinthian advertised as
“often in excess of 70%,” id. at 3, when actual in-field
placement rates were as low as 20 to 40
percent depending on the program, id. at 24. The document also
described Corinthian’s
misrepresentation of the quality of career services and quality
and type of classroom instruction
at Everest. For example, in promotional material, Corinthian
promised “programs specifically
designed to provide hands-on training” but, in reality, most
training at Everest was “self-taught
instruction from workbooks.” Id. at 35. And, although Corinthian
promised “experienced
instructors” with “industry-specific expertise,” instructors
were “unqualified, uninformed, and
unconcerned with teaching.” Id. at 38–39. “Many instructors were
from temp agencies and some
never taught in a classroom before.” Id. In addition, Corinthian
advertised its “professional-level
standards for conduct and behavior” and “inspirational classroom
discussions,” but students
instead found the school environment to be “a free-for-all,”
“unprofessional,” and “neglectful.”
Id. at 40–41. Students reported “serious problems of drug use
and violence” at Everest. Id. at 42.
The document cited these practices and others as establishing
violations of the Massachusetts
Consumer Protection Act. Id. at 7.
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On or about December 9, 2015, without having yet responded in
writing to Attorney
General Healey, the Secretary certified the plaintiffs’ debts to
Treasury for collection by offset.
A.R. at 532, 833. The administrative record before the Court
constitutes the entire record of the
decision to certify the plaintiffs’ debts for collection by
Treasury offset. That record does not
include any portion of the DTR, any reference to it, or any
information provided in it. By
affidavit, Education says it considered Exhibit 3—but not
Exhibit 4—of the DTR “to constitute
applications for Borrower Defense discharge.” Doc. No. 55 ¶¶
11–14.10 Accordingly, “Education
did not consider Plaintiffs Williams and Taveras as having
applied for Borrower Defense
discharge in connection with [the DTR.]” Id. ¶ 15. The
administrative record includes no
suggestion that the Secretary rendered a decision on the merits
of the defense to repayment
asserted by Attorney General Healey’s letter on behalf of
Williams and Taveras.
On January 8, 2016, Education responded to Attorney General
Healey in a two-page
letter, acknowledging receipt and careful review of the DTR and
its attachments. Doc. No. 93-1.
In the response, Education requested additional information
about Corinthian’s job placement
rates and corroborating documentation of Corinthian’s alleged
misrepresentations in its
advertising materials. Id. at 2–3. Education also affirmed its
commitment “to providing a fair,
transparent, and efficient process for debt relief for all
students who believe they have been
defrauded by their colleges” and its anticipation of “receipt of
the [additional requested]
information [from Attorney General Healey] . . . and . . .
working with [Attorney General
Healey] for the benefit of Massachusetts students.” Id. at 3.
Education, in this response, did not
address whether it viewed the DTR as a request for review or
borrower defense under 34 C.F.R.
10 Education has indicated that at least one student whose
information appeared in Exhibit 3 of the DTR has received the
requested relief. Doc. No. 55 ¶ 17.
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§ 685.206(c) on behalf of the students named in Exhibits 3 or 4
of the DTR, nor did it request
clarification. Nowhere in the response letter did Education
reject or even acknowledge Attorney
General Healey’s request that Education discharge the Corinthian
loan debts of the students
listed on Exhibit 4 without requiring each student to initiate
personally a borrower defense to
repayment proceeding complete with individual submission of
evidence.
Without further correspondence with Attorney General Healey,11
on April 27, 2016,
Education seized Williams’s tax refund in an amount of $1,263,
A.R. at 523, and, on May 25,
2016, it seized Taveras’s tax refund in an amount of $4,999,
A.R. at 818–19.12
On June 3, 2016, after the Secretary certified Taveras’s debt
for collection by offset,
Taveras personally submitted a borrower defense claim. A.R. at
834–38; Doc. No. 19-2 ¶ 20.
Following this submission, on October 26, 2016, the Secretary
suspended collection actions on
Taveras’s debt. Doc. No. 19-2 ¶ 20. Taveras’s debt remains
certified and, more than two years
post-submission, her borrower defense claim remains pending.
Doc. No. 19-4 at 28. The record
is devoid of anything suggesting either that Education has taken
any action toward deciding
Taveras’s claim or that there is a predictable timeline for when
a decision will be rendered.
In June 2016, in the lawsuit Attorney General Healey brought on
behalf of all Everest
students, the Suffolk Superior Court issued a judgment against
Corinthian. In August 2016, it
ordered restitution in an amount of $67,333,091—equal to “the
total of all monies acquired by
11 The Court ordered the Secretary to file “any responses to
[Attorney General Healey’s] letter by Defendant.” Doc. No. 89
(emphasis added). She filed only the January 8, 2016 letter. See
Doc. No. 93. 12 Taveras filed her taxes jointly with her spouse;
the tax refund seized was her joint tax refund. Doc. No. 19-1 ¶ 8.
Because the Internal Revenue Service found Taveras’s husband was an
“injured spouse” entitled to “innocent spouse” relief, see 26
U.S.C. § 6015, in October 2016, Treasury returned the full amount
of the seized refund to Taveras and her husband. A.R. at 818-19,
821.
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[Corinthian] from graduates enrolling in [Everest] during the
period July 1, 2006 through June
30, 2014.” Doc. No. 29-1 at 2, 10.
B. The Regulatory Scheme
When a person defaults on a loan owed to a federal agency,
United States law permits
collection of that debt through a variety of means, including
tax refund offset. 31 U.S.C.
§ 3720A(a). Collection by offset is conducted through TOP. 31
C.F.R. § 285.5. An agency that is
owed a debt may refer a “past-due, legally enforceable debt” to
TOP. 31 U.S.C. § 3720A(a).
Upon receiving such a referral, the Secretary of the Treasury
reduces the amount of the
defaulter’s tax refund, if owed, by an amount equal to his debt.
Id. at 3720A(c). The Secretary of
the Treasury then pays that amount to the referring agency.
Id.
Treasury has established regulations that govern what must be
done before a debt may be
referred to TOP. Before an agency may refer a debt, the agency
must, inter alia: (1) notify the
person incurring the debt of the agency’s intent to collect the
debt by tax refund offset; (2) allow
the person an opportunity for a review of the agency decision to
certify the debt; (3) allow the
person to present evidence that the debt is not past due or not
legally enforceable; (4) consider
“any evidence presented by [the] person;” and (5) determine that
the debt is past due and legally
enforceable. 31 U.S.C. §§ 3716(a)(3), 3720A(b); 31 C.F.R. §
285.2(b)–(d) (emphasis added). For
the purposes of TOP, Treasury has defined “past due” and
“legally enforceable” narrowly. A
debt that is “past due” is one that “has not been paid by the
date specified in the agency’s initial
written demand for payment, or applicable agreement or
instrument[,]” and a debt is “legally
enforceable” when “there has been a final agency determination
that the debt, in the amount
stated, is due, and there are no legal bars to collection by
offset.” 31 C.F.R. § 285.5(b). The
regulation does not define “legal bar” but states that such
debts “include, but are not limited to,
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debts subject to the automatic stay in bankruptcy proceedings or
debts covered by a statute that
prohibits collection of such debt by offset.” Id.
Treasury’s regulations do not limit an agency from considering
other defenses to
collection prior to certification. In fact, Congress has
required the Secretary, “[n]otwithstanding
any other provision of Federal or State law,” to “specify in
regulations which acts or omissions
of an institution of higher education a borrower may assert as a
defense to repayment of a loan.”
20 U.S.C. § 1087e(h). The Secretary’s regulation providing for
the assertion in tax refund offset
proceedings of “any act or omission of the school . . . that
would give rise to a cause of action
against the school under applicable State law,” 34 C.F.R. §
685.206(c)(1), was issued pursuant to
this statutory duty.13
Another set of regulations more specifically governs collection
by tax refund offset of
debt owed to Education. 34 C.F.R. §§ 30.24, 30.33. The
Secretary’s regulations require that she
allow a debtor 65 days from the date notice is provided to the
debtor of the Secretary’s intent to
collect by offset to request a review by Education of the
existence, amount, enforceability, or
past-due status of the debt. 34 C.F.R. § 30.33. Per the
Secretary’s regulations, a request for
review must identify “the debtor and the particular debt,
including the debtor’s Social Security
number and the program under which the debt arose” as well as an
“explanation of the reasons
the debtor believes that the notice the debtor received . . .
inaccurately states any facts or
conclusions relating to the debt.” 34 C.F.R. § 30.24(a)–(b).
Once a request for review is
submitted, the Secretary, must “[r]eview[] the documents
submitted by the debtor and other
13 The Secretary’s regulations also provide grounds for
discharge of a loan obl