SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Haeggquist & Eck, LLP is investigating Education Corporation of America’s closure of Brightwood College, Virginia College, and other education centers nationwide.
On December 5, 2018, Birmingham, Alabama-based Education Corporation of America (“ECA”), operator of scores of for-profit colleges across the United States, abruptly announced that it was ceasing operations at more than 70 of its campus locations in December 2018. The reasons cited for the closures included falling enrollment, financial concerns, and loss of accreditation. ECA’s colleges and schools operate under names such as Brightwood College, Brightwood Career Institute, Virginia College, Ecotech Institute, Golf Academy of America, and others.
The announcement reportedly came without warning to the faculty and students at ECA’s campus locations, many of whom have expressed concern and dismay online. National and local media have compared the event to the 2016 closing of ITT Technical Institute.
Haeggquist & Eck, LLP, long a champion of the rights of consumers and employees, is investigating whether ECA violated protections it owed to its staff, including federal and state laws that require advance notice before mass layoffs or the closing of operations, and the rights of ECA’s students to receive the education they were promised. The resolution of the pre-holiday woes created by ECA’s abrupt announcement will not be immediate, and the manner in which the closings have been undertaken will no doubt create a hot bed of litigation issues for ECA. Litigation concerning the alleged misconduct has already been commenced.
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