All but one charge in a lawsuit claiming Hawaii Community College wrongfully collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in student fees have been dismissed.
At a hearing on May 27, Circuit Court Judge Glenn Hara agreed the University of Hawaii was protected by sovereign immunity — the state cannot be sued unless it agrees to be — and a claim that the school failed to refund money and instead kept it for its own use, was not adequately pled — the plaintiffs did not specify services HCC students were deprived of.
Hara granted the UH’s motion for judgment but gave plaintiffs David Canning, Marieta Carino and Eric Aranug, leave to amend and resubmit one claim. That claim alleges the UH committed a “breach of contract” because it created “a valid and enforceable contract” between the school and students by charging fraudulent fees and “failed to provide the promised student services.”
Several charges were dropped prior to the hearing.
Attorney Peter Hsieh, who represents the former students, had no comment on the judge’s decision, but said plaintiffs plan to resubmit a complaint “within the next 30 to 45 days.” Calls to UH attorney Sharon Lovejoy were not returned.
The story first made headlines in 2014 when the then-students, all HCC former student leaders, claimed the school had been charging students for services no longer available to them.
HCC and the University of Hawaii at Hilo historically shared a radio station, recreation facilities, a campus center and subscriptions to the student news magazine until January 2013, when the two schools’ student organizations parted ways.
The lawsuit claimed the school knew students were being charged but didn’t inform them.
The students filed a similar complaint in October 2014 with the U.S. District Court which was dismissed without prejudice.
In the fall of 2014, not long after the allegations surfaced, HCC lowered its student fees from $67 to $30 per semester for a full-time student, which school spokesman Thatcher Moats previously said was “more consistent with other University of Hawaii Community Colleges.”