Lawsuit Claims Florida Coastal Law School Used Mandatory Bar Prep Course To 'Weed Out' Students And 'Artificially Inflate' Bar Passage Rate To Retain ABA Accreditation

Following up on my prior posts (links below):   Jacksonville Daily Record, Student Files Suit Against Florida Coastal School of Law:  

A student at Florida Coastal School of Law is suing the school and its owner, InfiLaw Corp., alleging that the school breached its contract with the student and negligently misrepresented requirements for education and graduation. ...

The plaintiff alleges that halfway through her time at the school, Florida Coastal changed its passing and graduation requirements; that she was forced to enroll in a Bar examination preparation course; and that Florida Coastal repeatedly changed the passing requirements for the course between semesters.

Originally, the complaint alleges, a 60% score was required to pass the course. Students were advised that was changed to 50%, but grades above the 50% percent threshold would not be determined by the number of questions answered correctly, but rather based on a curve relative to the scores of other students. ...

The complaint alleges that Florida Coastal's imposition of the Bar exam preparation course and its subsequent change in passing scores, were in response to the American Bar Association finding that Florida Coastal was out of compliance with multiple admission standards.

The plaintiff contends that the compliance plan the school developed to meet the ABA standards was intended to “weed out students” to prevent them from graduating and make them ineligible to sit for the Florida Bar exam. The lawsuit charges that was an effort to “artificially inflate” the school’s Bar passage rate and avoid sanctions that could be imposed by the ABA.

Florida Times-Union, What Now? An Update on Florida Coastal Law School

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• After 71% Enrollment Decline, Florida Coastal Plans To Further Shrink 1L Class To Raise Minimum LSAT Score By 7 Points And Avoid Fate Of Arizona Summit, Charlotte Law Schools (July 3, 2017)
• ABA Notices To Law Schools About Potential Non-Compliance With Accreditation Standards (Oct. 31, 2017)
• Florida Coastal Law School: 'We Are Not For Sale' (Nov. 29, 2017)
• ABA: Florida Coastal Law School Remains Out Of Compliance With Three Of Four Accreditation Standards (May 3, 2018)
• Florida Coastal Law School Sues ABA; Kirkland & Ellis Alleges Arbitrary Enforcement Of Accreditation Standards (May 11, 2018)
• Florida Coastal School of Law Seeks Restraining Order Against The ABA (June 19, 2018)
• Federal Judge Denies Florida Coastal Law School's TRO Bid Against The ABA (June 20, 2018)
• ABA Gives An Inch In Accreditation Fight With Florida Coastal Law (June 27, 2018)
• ABA Moves To Dismiss Florida Coastal's Lawsuit Alleging Arbitrary Enforcement Of Accreditation Standards (July 3, 2018)
• ABA Wins Early Round Against Florida Coastal Law In Accreditation Lawsuit (July 11, 2018)
• ABA: Florida Coastal Remains Out of Compliance With Law School Accreditation Standards (Sept. 8, 2019)
• July 2018 Florida Bar Exam Results (Sept. 18, 2018)
• Leadership Changes, Student Loans, And Nonprofit Status At Florida Coastal Law School (Sept. 14, 2019)
• In Wake Of 93% Enrollment Decline, Florida Coastal Law School Seeks To Ditch InfiLaw, Become Nonprofit, And Merge With University In The Southeast (But Not In Florida) (Feb. 6, 2019)
• All InfiLaw Suits Against the ABA Appear To Be Headed To Resolution (May 3, 2019)