Private Business and Vocational Schools Act, and claims of breach of contract, fraudulent misrepresentation, concealment, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, unjust enrichment, and declaratory relief as to violations of state law. The plaintiff sought compensatory, exemplary, punitive, treble, and statutory penalties and damages, including pre-judgment and post-judgment interest, in addition to restitution, declaratory and injunctive relief, and attorneys’ fees. The plaintiff later filed an amended complaint asserting similar claims with a new lead plaintiff, Dave McCormick. After discussions among the parties, the court granted a Motion for Preliminary Approval of Class Action Settlement (the “McCormick Settlement”) on May 28, 2020. As such, we recorded a loss contingency accrual of $44.95 million on the Consolidated Balance Sheets as of June 30, 2020 and charged the contingency loss within discontinued operations in the Consolidated Statements of Income (Loss) for the year ended June 30, 2020. In conjunction with the McCormick Settlement, Adtalem was required to establish a settlement fund by placing $44.95 million into an escrow account, which was recorded within prepaid expenses and other current assets on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. The court issued an order approving the McCormick Settlement on October 7, 2020 and dismissed the action with prejudice. On May 4, 2022, the Appellate Court of Illinois, First District affirmed the Circuit Court of Cook County’s approval of the McCormick Settlement. The $44.95 million settlement fund was reduced by $8.92 million (received by Adtalem on July 18, 2023) reflecting an offset of amounts paid to the Settlement Class. The $36.03 million settlement fund is being distributed to the Settlement Class. As a result, the loss contingency accrual and prepaid expense asset associated with the previous escrow balance are no longer outstanding on the Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2023.
On January 12, 2022, Walden was served with a complaint filed in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland by Aljanal Carroll, Claudia Provost Charles, and Tiffany Fair against Walden for damages, injunctive relief, and declaratory relief on behalf of themselves and all other similarly-situated individuals alleging violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Minnesota Prevention of Consumer Fraud Act, the Minnesota Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Minnesota statutes prohibiting false statements in advertising, and for common law fraudulent misrepresentation. Plaintiffs allege that Walden has targeted, deceived, and exploited Black and female Doctor of Business Administration (“DBA”) students by knowingly misrepresenting and understating the number of “capstone” credits required to complete the DBA program and obtain a degree. On March 23, 2022, Walden filed a Motion to Dismiss the Plaintiffs’ claims for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. On November 27, 2022, the Court denied Walden’s motion to dismiss the complaint. Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint to add an additional plaintiff, Tareion Fluker. Walden answered the amended complaint on February 2, 2023. The parties participated in a non-binding mediation on May 4, 2023 and settlement discussions continued. At a second non-binding mediation held on September 21, 2023, the parties agreed on a $28.5 million payment to resolve the issues in the case, subject to agreement on non-financial terms, discussions about which are ongoing. We have recorded a $28.5 million loss contingency accrual for this matter within accrued liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2023. If a tentative settlement is reached, it is subject to approval by Adtalem’s Board of Directors and the court. In January 2024, Adtalem made a claim for indemnification under the Membership Interest Purchase Agreement with Laureate Education, Inc. (“Laureate”), dated September 11, 2020, pursuant to which Adtalem purchased Walden. If a settlement is finalized and approved by the court, Adtalem expects to receive $5.5 million from Laureate in connection with such indemnification claim.
On June 6, 2022, plaintiff Rajesh Verma filed a lawsuit on behalf of himself and a class of similarly situated individuals in the Circuit Court of the Fourth Judicial Circuit, Duval County Florida, against Walden alleging that Walden was placing telephonic sales calls to persons on the National Do-Not-Call Registry, in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227, et seq. Although originally filed in state court, Walden removed the case to federal court and filed a motion to dismiss plaintiff’s complaint. On August 26, 2022, plaintiff filed a motion to remand Count I of the complaint to state court. On March 2, 2023, plaintiff filed an amended complaint to add a Florida state law claim against Walden under the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act (“FTSA”). On March 16, 2023, Walden filed its answer to the amended complaint. On March 29, 2023, Walden’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s complaint and plaintiff’s motion to remand Count I of the complaint were denied. A non-binding mediation was held on September 18, 2023. The parties reached a settlement for an immaterial amount, subject to Court approval.
As previously disclosed, pursuant to the terms of the Stock Purchase Agreement (“SPA”) by and between Adtalem and Cogswell, dated as of December 4, 2017, as amended, Adtalem sold DeVry University to Cogswell and Adtalem agreed to indemnify DeVry University for certain losses up to $340.0 million (the “Liability Cap”). Adtalem has previously disclosed DeVry University related matters that have consumed a portion of the Liability Cap.