CT attorney general says settlement in place between Stone Academy’s former students, owners

CT Post – Thursday, January 9, 2025
By Hana Ikramuddin

HARTFORD — A preliminary settlement involving the owners and former students of Stone Academy — the now defunct nursing school that had campuses in East Hartford, Waterbury and West Haven — will be filed in Hartford Superior Court on Friday, according to Connecticut Attorney General William Tong.

The proposed settlement, which is subject to court approval, would resolve claims filed by the state regarding what it called “misconduct” by the school, and by students in a private class action lawsuit filed after the school’s abrupt closure. It would direct millions of dollars in aid to students “harmed by unfair and deceptive conduct at the for-profit nursing school,” Tong’s office said.

More details of the agreement will be announced at a news conference Friday in Hartford, Tong’s office said.

Former students of the vocational school sought more than $10 million in damages after the school closed its three campuses in February 2023 amid compliance issues uncovered by the state Office of Higher Education.

State regulators accused the school of insufficient staffing, failing to meet requirements for clinical hours, and other issues. The sudden closure also left hundreds of students with incomplete degrees.

Tong’s office said it opened an investigation following the school’s closure, which culminated in a lawsuit filed in Hartford seeking millions of dollars in penalties in restitution for former students.

Former Stone Academy students also sued the state for invalidating credits they believed were legitimate.

In March 2024, Tong’s office announced that a state secured a $5 million prejudgment remedy against Stone Academy. A judge ruled that Stone Academy “materially misrepresented” its programs, and issued the prejudgment remedy, which meant that the school and its former president, Joe Birnbaum, must set aside the amount to prepare to pay damages, court documents showed.

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