Sweet et al v. DeVos et al, No. 3:2019cv03674 - Document 146 (N.D. Cal. 2020)
Court Description: ORDER DENYING 129 CLASS SETTLEMENT, TO RESUME DISCOVERY, AND TO SHOW CAUSE. SIGNED BY JUDGE ALSUP. (whalc2, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 10/19/2020)
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Sweet et al v. DeVos et al Doc. 146 Case 3:19-cv-03674-WHA Document 146 Filed 10/19/20 Page 1 of 17 1 2 3 4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 7 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8 9 10 THERESA SWEET, et al., Plaintiffs, United States District Court Northern District of California 11 12 13 14 No. C 19-03674 WHA v. ELISABETH DEVOS, et al., Defendants. ORDER DENYING CLASS SETTLEMENT, TO RESUME DISCOVERY, AND TO SHOW CAUSE 15 16 INTRODUCTION 17 Following preliminary approval of a proposed class settlement meant to restart 18 Department of Education review of student-loan borrower-defense applications under the 19 Higher Education and Administrative Procedure Acts, the Secretary’s new perfunctory denial 20 notices undermine the proposed settlement, contradict her original justification for delay, raise 21 substantial questions under the APA, and may impose irreparable harm upon the class of 22 student-loan borrowers. Final approval of the proposed class settlement is DENIED. 23 DISCOVERY shall resume immediately. Both parties shall SHOW CAUSE why the Secretary 24 should not be enjoined from further perfunctory denials. This case resumes on the merits. 25 STATEMENT 26 Title IV of the Higher Education Act directs the Secretary of Education “to assist in 27 making available the benefits of postsecondary education to eligible students” through 28 financial-assistance programs. Education affords most a significant opportunity, but all too Dockets.Justia.com United States District Court Northern District of California Case 3:19-cv-03674-WHA Document 146 Filed 10/19/20 Page 2 of 17 1 often, for-profit colleges, using fraudulent enrollment tactics (such as inflated job-placement 2 numbers), leave students saddled with debt and little to show for it. To remedy this 3 misconduct, Title IV authorizes the Secretary to cancel a federal student loan (in whole or part) 4 and directs her to “specify in regulations which acts or omissions of an institution of higher 5 education a borrower may assert as a defense to repayment of a loan.” 20 U.S.C. §§ 1070, 6 1087e(h). 7 In 1994, Secretary Richard W. Riley promulgated the first variation of the “borrower 8 defense” rule for certain federal loans, which allowed a borrower to “assert as a defense against 9 repayment of his or her loan ‘any act or omission of the school attended by the student that 10 would give rise to a cause of action against the school under applicable State law.’” 60 Fed. 11 Reg. 37,768, 37,770 (July 21, 1995). Yet the system lay dormant for the next twenty years 12 (AR 505). 13 In May 2015, Corinthian Colleges, Inc., a for-profit college with more than 100 14 campuses and over 70,000 students, collapsed. Secretary John B. King found “that the college 15 had misrepresented its job placement rates.” Predictably, Corinthian students submitted a 16 “flood” of student-loan borrower-defense applications. So, Secretary King quickly moved to 17 update the infrastructure for adjudicating borrower-defense applications and appointed a 18 special master in June 2015 “to create and oversee a process to provide debt relief for these 19 Corinthian borrowers.” 81 Fed. Reg. 39,329, 39,330, 39,335 (June 16, 2016). But it remained 20 a game of catch up. 21 Over the next year, the special master granted full loan discharges to 3,787 applicants. 22 Yet by December, borrowers had submitted 6,691 defense applications, and by June 2016, 23 they’d submitted 26,603. The newly created “Borrower Defense Unit” (“BDU”) took over and 24 by October approved 11,822 applications and denied 245, for a total of 15,609 approvals and a 25 98.5% grant rate. But by that time, borrowers had submitted a total of 72,877 defense 26 applications (AR 339–40, 347, 369, 384–85, 392–94, 502). 27 28 In November 2016, the BDU promulgated the new borrower-defense regulations — scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2017 — to codify the process for adjudication and to set a 2 United States District Court Northern District of California Case 3:19-cv-03674-WHA Document 146 Filed 10/19/20 Page 3 of 17 1 new standard for borrower-defense claims. 81 Fed. Reg. 75,926 (Nov. 1, 2016). The 2 regulations would require a borrower to submit an application with evidence supporting his or 3 her claim and allow the Secretary to designate an official to resolve the claim. See 34 C.F.R. 4 §§ 685.206, 685.222 (2018). 5 In the new year, the Secretary approved another 16,164 applications, but failed to 6 discharge the loans before January 20. In total, by the end of the Obama Administration, the 7 Secretary had approved 31,773 applications for discharge (though not necessarily effected 8 relief) and found 245 ineligible, for a 99.2% grant rate. Borrowers, however, had had 9 submitted 72,877 applications (AR 392–94, 502–03). 10 With the new administration came new policy. In March 2017, newly-installed Secretary 11 Elisabeth DeVos (our present defendant) created a Borrower Defense Review Panel to examine 12 the entire review process and recommend changes. After the panel also requested an Inspector 13 General review, the BDU “was advised” that “no additional approvals would be processed” 14 until the completion of both the panel and IG reviews. Nevertheless, the panel honored — and 15 the Secretary approved, though “with extreme displeasure” — the 16,164 borrower-defense 16 applications that the prior administration had approved but not discharged before January 20, 17 2017. By July, however, borrowers had submitted 98,868 applications in total (AR 348–49, 18 502–05; Dkt. No. 66-3, Ex. 7). 19 The IG ultimately recommended only “improved documentation and information 20 systems” and “did not recommend any changes to existing review processes and protocols.” 21 The Secretary, however, decided to develop new method for awarding relief to eligible 22 borrowers. She disagreed with the previous administration, which had granted full loan 23 discharges on (as the Secretary puts it) the assumption that borrowers subject to school 24 misconduct had received no value from their education. Instead, the new method would 25 discharge more or less of a loan based empirically upon the difference between the average 26 earnings of borrowers subjected to school misconduct and of students who completed similar 27 programs from other, misconduct-free schools (AR 006–007, 349–50, 590–91). 28 3 Case 3:19-cv-03674-WHA Document 146 Filed 10/19/20 Page 4 of 17 Between December 2017 and May 2018, the Department reportedly decided more than United States District Court Northern District of California 1 2 26,000 more claims — approving over 16,000 and denying over 10,000 — before a court in 3 this district preliminarily enjoined this new “partial relief methodology” for its likely violation 4 of the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a (AR 006–07, 350). Calvillo Manriquez v. DeVos, 345 F. 5 Supp. 3d 1077 (N.D. Cal. 2018) (Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim). So, in total by June 2018, the 6 Secretary had granted 47,942 applications (though not necessarily effected relief) and denied 7 or closed 12,314, for a 79.6% grant rate (or, Secretary DeVos’s decisions taken alone, a 61.5% 8 grant rate). Yet the flood continued. By that point, borrowers had submitted, in total, 165,880 9 applications, leaving 105,998 still to be decided (AR 401).1 10 Then, despite the backlog, the decisions stopped. By September, 139,021 applications 11 awaited review. That count rose to 158,110 by the end of December, and to 179,377 by the 12 end of March 2019. By June 2019, borrowers had filed 272,721 applications and 210,168 13 languished. For eighteen months, from June 2018 until December 2019 — well into this suit 14 — the Secretary issued no decisions at all (AR 397–404, 587–88). 15 Plaintiffs Theresa Sweet, Chenelle Archibald, Daniel Deegan, Samuel Hood, Tresa 16 Apodaca, Alicia Davis, and Jessica Jacobson filed borrower-defense applications. Contending 17 the Secretary’s delay to be unlawful stonewalling, they sued in June 2019 to compel the 18 Secretary to begin deciding applications again. An October 2019 order certified a nationwide 19 class of approximately 160,000 borrower-defense applicants who still awaited decision and 20 were not already members of Calvillo Manriquez v. DeVos, No. C 17-07210 SK, 2018 WL 21 5316175 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 15, 2018) (Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim). In November, the Secretary certified an administrative record to explain her delay and 22 23 cross motions for summary judgment followed (Dkt. Nos. 56, 63, 67). On December 10, 2019, 24 with around 225,000 claims pending, the Secretary released an updated “tiered relief 25 methodology” which, similar to the previously enjoined method, would award partial loan 26 27 28 1 Additionally, shortly before the 2016 regulations’ effective date (July 1, 2017), the Secretary had stayed the regulations under Section 705 of the APA. In September 2018, the District Court for the District of Columbia found the delay arbitrary and capricious. Bauer v. DeVos, 325 F. Supp. 3d 74 (D.D.C. 2018) (Judge Randolph Moss). 4 Case 3:19-cv-03674-WHA Document 146 Filed 10/19/20 Page 5 of 17 1 discharges based upon the difference in earning potential between borrowers subjected to 2 school misconduct and those not; though this method appeared to use data gathered at a higher 3 level to assuage the earlier privacy concerns (AR 589–601). United States District Court Northern District of California 4 The next day, the Secretary issued 16,045 decisions; but in a marked departure from the 5 previous grant-denial ratio, she approved only 789 applications and denied the remaining 6 15,256 (AR 587–88). Previously, as noted, the Secretary’s grant ratio had been 61.5%. These 7 December decisions, however, represented a 95.1% denial rate. Though class counsel knew of 8 these early numbers, they maintain that they did not learn of the form denials, and, it seems, 9 could not know of the scope of their use, until later (Dkt. Nos. 121 at 13–14; 129-1 at 2–3). 10 Before the undersigned ruled on the motions for summary judgment, however, the parties 11 apparently reached a proposed class settlement. A May 22, 2020, order preliminarily approved 12 the proposal as it appeared to impose an adequate eighteen-month deadline for the Secretary to 13 decide claims and a twenty-one month deadline to effect relief, penalties for the Secretary’s 14 failure, reporting requirements, and it did not prejudice the merits of borrowers’ applications. 15 Following preliminary approval, the parties distributed class notice and solicited comments in 16 time for the October 1 fairness hearing. About one hundred thirty borrowers timely responded. 17 Then came the snag. Class counsel discovered that the Secretary had been issuing 18 alarmingly-curt denial notices for several months, in violation (as class counsel put it) of both 19 the spirit of the proposed settlement and the Administrative Procedure Act. The undersigned 20 requested more information from the Secretary and, given the lack of briefing, reserved the 21 problem for the October 1 fairness hearing (Dkt. No. 121). 22 In her requested response, the Secretary admitted to using four different form denial 23 notices. Continuing her rate of denials from December, the Secretary had, as of April, granted 24 only 8,800 applications and denied 36,200. By August, she had approved 13,500 applications, 25 yet denied 118,300, for an 89.8% denial rate. Of those applications from our class of 26 27 28 5 Case 3:19-cv-03674-WHA Document 146 Filed 10/19/20 Page 6 of 17 1 borrowers, the Secretary has denied 74,000 applications and granted only 4,400, for a 94.4% 2 denial rate (Dkt. No. 116).2 As the fairness hearing approached, it became clear the parties could not jointly move for 3 4 approval. A September 16 order kept the fairness hearing on calendar to ensure borrowers 5 would be heard, whatever the outcome, but invited the parties to move for relief as they wished 6 on the standard 35-day track (Dkt. No. 123). On October 1, approximately 620 participants, counsel, borrowers, and members of the United States District Court Northern District of California 7 8 public joined the proposed-settlement fairness hearing by telephone. Of the approximately 9 three hundred requests to speak, the Court chose fourteen representative borrowers to comment 10 on the proposed settlement. The representatives expressed serious concern with the proposed 11 settlement, particularly in light of the Secretary’s recent string of form denials. 12 In the meantime, class counsel have moved for approval of the proposed settlement and 13 for its enforcement, seeking an order requiring the Secretary, in denying applications, to issue 14 explanatory details under the Department’s own regulations, the Administrative Procedure Act, 15 and due process. The Secretary would consent to approval of the settlement as written, but 16 opposes class counsel’s view of it. This motion has been fully briefed. Time is of the essence. 17 The parties have been heard at two recent hearings. This motion is appropriate for disposition 18 on the papers. ANALYSIS 19 One hundred sixty thousand student-loan borrowers, defrauded by for-profit schools and 20 21 saddled with debilitating debt, have asked the Secretary of Education for the relief which 22 Congress has provided. All may not be entitled to relief, but all are entitled to a 23 comprehensible answer. For eighteen months, the Secretary refused, largely on the grounds 24 that such answers required backbreaking effort and, thus, substantial time. Now, the Secretary 25 has begun issuing decisions at breakneck speed. But most are a perfunctory “Insufficient 26 Evidence” — without explanation. 27 28 2 It remains unclear on this record when borrowers filed these newly-decided applications. 6 Case 3:19-cv-03674-WHA Document 146 Filed 10/19/20 Page 7 of 17 1 1. THE SETTLEMENT IS DENIED; ENFORCEMENT IS MOOT. A class settlement must offer fair, reasonable, and adequate relief. Lane v. Facebook, 2 Inc., 696 F.3d 811, 818 (9th Cir. 2012). Our proposed settlement primarily offered a timeline 3 for the Secretary to decide the delayed student-loan borrower-defense applications. Given the 4 borrower-defense applications had already languished without decision for eighteen months 5 (and some had languished much longer), allowing the Secretary another eighteen months from 6 final approval to decide the applications hardly gave cause to celebrate. But the proposed 7 settlement did offer the substantial benefit that neither party would seek appellate relief. Upon 8 final approval, the class would face acceptable delay; the Secretary would hit the ground, well, 9 not running, but at least moving forward. 10 Upon closer inspection, however, this long-awaited restart of borrower-defense 11 United States District Court Northern District of California application review brings cause for alarm. The Secretary has been issuing four different form 12 denial notices over the past several months, since even before the settlement. The class 13 appears to challenge only the fourth form (Dkt. Nos. 116-4, 129 at 9). This one reads, as 14 received by class member Y. Colon: 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Applicable Law For Direct Loans first disbursed prior to July 1, 2017, a borrower may be eligible for a discharge (forgiveness) of part or all of one or more Direct Loans if the borrower’s school engaged in acts or omissions that would give rise to a cause of action against the school under applicable state law. See § 455(h) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, 20 U.S.C. § 1087e(h), and 34 C.F.R. § 685.206(c) and 685.222 (the Borrower Defense regulations). ED recognizes a borrower’s defense to repayment of a Direct Loan only if the cause of action directly relates to the Direct Loan or to the school’s provision of educational services for which the Direct Loan was provided. 34 C.F.R. §§685.206(c)(1), 685.222(a)(5); U.S. Department of Education, Notice of Interpretation, 60 Fed. Reg. 37,769 (Jul. 21, 1995). Why was my application determined to be ineligible? ED reviewed your borrower defense claims based on any evidence submitted by you in support of your application, your loan data from National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS®), and evidence provided by other borrowers. Allegation 1: Educational Services You allege that Sanford-Brown College engaged in misconduct related to Educational Services. This allegation fails for the 7 Case 3:19-cv-03674-WHA Document 146 Filed 10/19/20 Page 8 of 17 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 United States District Court Northern District of California 11 12 13 14 following reason(s): Insufficient Evidence. Your claim for relief on this basis therefore is denied. Allegation 2: Other You allege that Sanford-Brown College engaged in misconduct related to Other. This allegation fails for the following reason(s): Insufficient Evidence. Your claim for relief on this basis therefore is denied. Allegation 3: Transferring Credits You allege that Sanford-Brown College engaged in misconduct related to Transferring Credits. This allegation fails for the following reason(s): Insufficient Evidence. Your claim for relief on this basis therefore is denied. Allegation 4: Employment Prospects You allege that Sanford-Brown College engaged in misconduct related to Employment Prospects. This allegation fails for the following reason(s): Insufficient Evidence. Your claim for relief on this basis therefore is denied. What evidence was considered in determining my application’s ineligibility? We reviewed evidence provided by you and other borrowers who attended your school. Additionally, we considered evidence gathered from the following sources: 18 NY Attorney General’s Office PA Attorney General’s Office Evidence obtained by the Department in conjunction with its regular oversight activities Publicly available securities filings made by Career Education Corporation (now known as Perdoceo Education Corporation) Multi-State Attorney General Assurance of Voluntary Compliance (effective January 2, 2019) 19 (Dkt. No. 108-16 at 183–85). In both written letters to the court and in the Zoom chat at the 20 October 1 fairness hearing, many borrowers reported receiving almost identical denial notices 21 (Dkt. No. 141). Borrowers cannot possibly understand why their applications have been 22 denied. They do not believe the Secretary has reviewed their borrower-defense applications in 23 good faith and do not know, realistically, how to proceed. 15 16 17 24 It’s no wonder borrowers are confused. The Secretary’s perfunctory denial notice does 25 not explain the evidence reviewed or the law applied. It provides no analysis. And, the 26 borrower’s path forward rings disturbingly Kafkaesque. Any request for reconsideration must: 27 (1) explain “[w]hy you believe that ED incorrectly decided your borrower defense to 28 repayment application;” and (2) “[i]dentify and provide any evidence that demonstrates why 8 Case 3:19-cv-03674-WHA Document 146 Filed 10/19/20 Page 9 of 17 1 ED should approve your borrower defense to repayment claim under the applicable law set 2 forth above” (Dkt. No. 116-4). Without any meaningful analysis of the evidence under the 3 law, how might a borrower articulate such bases for reconsideration? It is, after all, impossible 4 to argue with an unreasoned decision. United States District Court Northern District of California 5 Class counsel contend this perfunctory denial notice violates the Administrative 6 Procedure Act, which (they argue) requires the Secretary’s denial notices to contain not just the 7 conclusion but a meaningful statement of reasoning that could actually be reviewed for error. 8 Counsel acknowledge the APA does not require much, but it does at least require that a “notice 9 shall be accompanied by a brief statement of the grounds for denial.” 5. U.S.C. § 555(e). That 10 is, “[t]he agency’s statement must be one of ‘reasoning’; it must not be just a ‘conclusion’; it 11 must ‘articulate a satisfactory explanation’ for its action.” Butte County, Cal. v. Hogen, 613 12 F.3d 190, 194 (D.C. Cir. 2010). Counsel also argue that an unexplained application denial 13 violates due process, which requires a benefits determination to “provide claimants with 14 enough information to understand the reasons for the agency’s action,” and the Secretary’s 15 own regulations, which require her to resolve applications “through a fact-finding process” 16 resulting in a notification “of the reasons for the denial [and] the evidence that was relied 17 upon.” See Kapps v. Wing, 404 F.3d 105, 123 (2d Cir. 2005); 34 C.F.R. § 685.222. Against 18 this backdrop, then, class counsel contend that the Secretary has not, in fact, been issuing “final 19 decisions” and move not only for approval of the settlement, but also for the Court to enforce 20 counsel’s reading of “final decision” as used in the settlement agreement. 21 The Secretary responds that this case only concerns the timeline of decision — 22 emphatically not the substance of the decisions — and that the proposed settlement merely 23 requires her to “issue final decisions,” i.e. “decision[s] . . . resolving . . . borrower defense 24 application[s]” (Prop. Agmt., Dkt. No. 97-2 at § IV.A.1). In the Secretary’s view, the form 25 denials do just that and the APA, to the extent it applies, requires no more. The Secretary 26 stresses that she had been issuing this perfunctory denial notice for months before and 27 throughout the settlement negotiations and expected to continue that course. At bottom, the 28 Secretary says that if she had understood a “final decision” to require any more then she would 9 Case 3:19-cv-03674-WHA Document 146 Filed 10/19/20 Page 10 of 17 1 not have agreed to the eighteen-month decision timeline. Thus, the Secretary does not oppose 2 approval of the proposed settlement as written, but opposes any enforcement or approval of the 3 class’s interpretation of the proposed settlement. United States District Court Northern District of California 4 The essence of the problem is that we have no meeting of the minds. Federal common 5 law governs contracts with the United States and “we look to general principles.” Klamath 6 Water Users Prot. Ass’n v. Patterson, 204 F.3d 1206, 1210 (9th Cir. 1999). “[W]here there 7 appears to be a manifestation of assent initially, but, following appropriate interpretation or 8 construction, it becomes clear that the parties’ apparent assent did not in fact indicate assent at 9 all . . . there is no contract.” 1 WILLISTON ON CONTRACTS § 3:4 (4th ed. 2020). During 10 settlement negotiations, our parties used the term “final decision” to refer to the Secretary’s 11 work product. Each incorrectly believed its interpretation to be peerless. The Secretary 12 interpreted “final decision” to encompass her perfunctory denial notices, while class counsel 13 (yet unaware of the new form of notice) believed otherwise. The Secretary would not have 14 agreed to counsel’s more rigorous interpretation, and counsel would not have agreed to the 15 Secretary’s more liberal interpretation. Simply put, the parties bargained for materially 16 different rights and duties and, thus, never reached an agreement. 17 Counsel appears to argue that under the APA and due process the Secretary could only 18 have agreed to counsel’s interpretation of “final decision.” But the Secretary didn’t have to 19 agree to the settlement at all. If the Secretary agreed to anything, it would surely have been 20 her understanding of the proposed settlement. On appeal, we will, first, lose any hope of 21 keeping to the eighteen-month timeline (the primary benefit offered by proposed settlement) 22 and, second, the Secretary will very reasonably argue that she negotiated under a consistent, 23 material course of conduct and fairly expected the agreement to encompass that course of 24 conduct. We will not saddle the class with the risk of moving forward with a disputed 25 settlement that may fall out from underneath their feet on appeal. In these circumstances, we 26 ought to step back and resolve the dispute on the merits, moving as expeditiously as 27 circumstances permit. Final approval of the proposed class settlement is denied and counsel’s 28 motion to enforce falls moot. 10 Case 3:19-cv-03674-WHA Document 146 Filed 10/19/20 Page 11 of 17 * 1 * 2 The Court is disappointed that it has come to this. This settlement was supposed to 3 jumpstart a long delayed regulatory process, intended to at least get reasoned decisions, even if 4 reasoned denials, to hundreds of thousands of student-loan borrowers. We will return to 5 litigating the merits. Questions of legality plague the Secretary’s new perfunctory denial 6 notice, and the circumstances of its use appear to contradict one of the primary justifications 7 for her original delay. We need an updated record and updated discovery to determine what is 8 going on before we again attempt to resolve the merits of this case. And, in the meantime, we 9 need to decide whether the Secretary may continue issuing this challenged form of denial to 10 United States District Court Northern District of California * borrowers. 11 2. 12 Absent a showing otherwise, an agency’s certified record, in support of either action or EXPEDITED DISCOVERY IS ORDERED. 13 inaction, enjoys a presumption of completeness and regularity. See Portland Audubon Soc. v. 14 Endangered Species Comm., 984 F.2d 1534, 1548 (9th Cir. 1993); Dep’t of Commerce v. New 15 York, 588 U.S. ___, 139 S. Ct. 2551, 2573–74 (2019). Narrow circumstances, such as a 16 showing of agency bad faith, permit consideration of evidence outside the administrative 17 record. Lands Council v. Powell, 395 F.3d 1019, 1029–30 (9th Cir. 2005). Here, in reviewing 18 agency inaction, the scope of review broadens (as no specific dates bound the record). Even 19 so, our review would ordinarily remain bounded by what the agency directly or indirectly 20 considered. Independence Mining Co. v. Babbitt, 105 F.3d 502, 511 (9th Cir. 1997); 21 Thompson v. U.S. Dep’t of Labor, 885 F.2d 551, 555 (9th Cir. 1989). 22 Yet meaningful review of agency conduct (activity or not) depends utterly on the record 23 adequately reflecting the basis for that conduct. Commerce, 139 S. Ct. at 2573. “An 24 incomplete record must be viewed as a ‘fictional account of the actual decisionmaking 25 process.’” Portland, 984 F.2d at 1548 (citing Home Box Office, Inc. v. FCC, 567 F.2d 9, 54 26 (D.C. Cir. 1977)) (emphasis added). In these cases, record supplementation and, in 27 “compelling” cases, discovery become appropriate. Portland, 984 F.2d at 1548–49; Public 28 11 Case 3:19-cv-03674-WHA Document 146 Filed 10/19/20 Page 12 of 17 1 Power Council v. Johnson, 674 F.2d 791, 793–95 (9th Cir. 1982) (Kennedy, J.). We have such 2 a case here. 3 4 5 6 7 8 United States District Court Northern District of California 9 Pretext is the paradigm of agency bad faith. Even where the challenged agency conduct itself may ultimately be lawful, [A]gencies [must] offer genuine justifications for important decisions, reasons that can be scrutinized by courts and the interested public. Accepting contrived reasons would defeat the purpose of the enterprise. If judicial review is to be more than an empty ritual, it must demand something better . . . . Commerce, 139 S. Ct. at 2573–76. Here, “[w]e are presented . . . with an explanation for agency action that is incongruent 10 with what the record reveals about the agency’s priorities and decisionmaking process.” Id. at 11 2575. In justifying her delay of borrower-defense decisions at summary judgment, the 12 Secretary expounded upon the work involved in evaluating each application: 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 [T]he Department must determine whether the borrower’s school engaged in acts or omissions which would give rise to a cause of action against the institution under applicable State law. Applying such a standard necessarily involves a legal analysis of what state law applies to a given application and whether evidence provided by the borrower establishes a cause of action under the applicable standard. * * * [T]the Department has primarily focused its efforts to date on identifying certain categories of claims, based on systemic institutional conduct. For each such category that has been approved, the Department’s BDU has analyzed and summarized the relevant evidence, determined and applied applicable law, established criteria for approval of that type of claim, and drafted claim-specific review protocols. * * * [F]or each claim that does not fit within an established category . . . the BDU must individually review the application and any accompanying evidence from the borrower and determine whether the borrower has established a defense under the relevant regulation. * * * In addition to its work processing claims and determining their eligibility on the merits for borrower defense relief, the BDU has also initiated review and analysis of evidence pertaining to 12 Case 3:19-cv-03674-WHA Document 146 Filed 10/19/20 Page 13 of 17 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 United States District Court Northern District of California 9 additional schools and campuses, which will allow the Department to make streamlined determinations about whether borrowers who attended those programs can meet the regulatory standards for asserting a defense and, ultimately, whether they are entitled to loan relief as a result. and, most importantly: Issuing final decisions on such claims is time-consuming and complex, with many steps in the adjudicatory process, and agencies must be given, within reason, the time necessary to analyze the issues presented so that they can reach considered results. (Dkt. No. 63 at 18–19) (cleaned up) (emphasis added). And yet, these form denial letters bear no indication of such “time-consuming,” 10 “complex,” legal analysis of both borrower-submitted and agency evidence, “under applicable 11 State law,” to “reach considered results.” Recall the perfunctory recitation of law in Ms. 12 Colon’s denial notice: 13 Applicable Law 14 For Direct Loans first disbursed prior to July 1, 2017, a borrower may be eligible for a discharge (forgiveness) of part or all of one or more Direct Loans if the borrower’s school engaged in acts or omissions that would give rise to a cause of action against the school under applicable state law. See § 455(h) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, 20 U.S.C. § 1087e(h), and 34 C.F.R. § 685.206(c) and 685.222 (the Borrower Defense regulations). ED recognizes a borrower’s defense to repayment of a Direct Loan only if the cause of action directly relates to the Direct Loan or to the school’s provision of educational services for which the Direct Loan was provided. 34 C.F.R. §§685.206(c)(1), 685.222(a)(5); U.S. Department of Education, Notice of Interpretation, 60 Fed. Reg. 37,769 (Jul. 21, 1995). 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 the recitation of evidence: What evidence was considered in determining my application’s ineligibility? We reviewed evidence provided by you and other borrowers who attended your school. Additionally, we considered evidence gathered from the following sources: NY Attorney General’s Office PA Attorney General’s Office Evidence obtained by the Department in conjunction with its regular oversight activities Publicly available securities filings made by Career Education Corporation (now known as Perdoceo Education Corporation) 13 Case 3:19-cv-03674-WHA Document 146 Filed 10/19/20 Page 14 of 17 Multi-State Attorney General Assurance of Voluntary Compliance (effective January 2, 2019) 1 2 3 4 5 6 United States District Court Northern District of California 7 and analysis: Allegation 1: Educational Services You allege that Sanford-Brown College engaged in misconduct related to Educational Services. This allegation fails for the following reason(s): Insufficient Evidence. Your claim for relief on this basis therefore is denied. (Dkt. No. 108-16 at 183–85). This lack of explanation becomes more all the more galling given Ms. Colon, as so many 8 of our borrowers did, attended a school that has since been found to have misled students. 9 Indeed, after the New York Attorney General sued Sanford-Brown College, Ms. Colon 10 received a restitution check. Her denial notice even acknowledges that the Secretary had the 11 NY AG’s evidence (Dkt. Nos. 129 at 11; 142; 145). Which begs the question, why did a 12 student who already qualified for relief based on her school’s misconduct under state law not 13 now qualify for relief based on a claim “that would give rise to a cause of action against the 14 school under applicable State law?” See 34 C.F.R. § 685.206(c). These cases call for adequate 15 explanation — just as the Secretary told us they would when justifying her delay — and yet the 16 Secretary’s perfunctory denial notice does not come close to offering such an explanation. 17 We also cannot ignore that these perfunctory denial notices have accompanied a drastic 18 increase in both the pace of decisions and the rate of denials. In the 19 months leading up to 19 January 2017, the previous administration decided 32,018 applications, granting 31,773 20 (including those 16,164 that had been approved and for which Secretary DeVos later 21 authorized relief), for a 99.2% percent grant rate. When Secretary DeVos took control and 22 began deciding claims for the first time under her first iteration of the partial relief 23 methodology, she approved about 16,000 applications and denied 10,000, for a 61.5% grant 24 rate. In the ten months since she began issuing decisions again, however, the Secretary has 25 denied 118,300 of the 131,800 applications decided, an 89.8% denial rate. For our class of 26 borrowers specifically, the Secretary has denied 74,000 of the 78,400 applications reviewed — 27 a 94.4% denial rate. 28 14 Case 3:19-cv-03674-WHA Document 146 Filed 10/19/20 Page 15 of 17 1 2 largely on the backbreaking effort required to review individual applications, distill common 3 evidence, and “reach considered results,” the Secretary has charged out of the gate, issuing 4 perfunctory denial notices utterly devoid of meaningful explanation at a blistering pace. Set 5 aside even the question of whether this form denials is, in fact, a legally sufficient “final 6 decision” under the proposed agreement, the APA, department regulations, and due process. 7 The issue here is that “the evidence tells a story that does not match the explanation the 8 Secretary gave for h[er] decision.” Judicial review of agencies is deferential — not naïve. 9 Courts will not suffer pretext in the review of agency conduct. Ibid. 10 United States District Court Northern District of California Simply put, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. After justifying eighteen months of delay In an ordinary case, pretext leads to remand so the agency may explain itself. Id. at 2576. 11 Extraordinary circumstances, however, such as a pressing deadline, compel discovery. See 12 Public Power, 674 F.2d at 793–95; Portland, 984 F.2d at 1548–49. 13 Here, time is of the essence. We don’t enjoy the luxury of seeking simply to forestall 14 harm — it descended upon the class long ago. Our borrowers live under the severe financial 15 burden of their loans. They have waited for relief, or at least decision, for eighteen months. 16 Many have waited much longer; and many are still waiting. In the meantime, we have lost a 17 full eight months chasing this failed settlement. The time to direct supplementation of the 18 record was eight months ago. 19 Atop this, the harm from delay has been compounding for the last eight months. This 20 form denial puts borrowers in worse positions than they started. They may have a “decision” 21 (though that is hotly contested), but they have neither a meaningful explanation nor (as 22 discussed above) any meaningful opportunity to appeal or request the Secretary’s 23 reconsideration. The form denial, frankly, hangs borrowers out to dry. 24 In sum, we are faced with a strong showing of agency pretext and the class has been 25 prejudiced by delay enough. We need to know what is really going on. This compels 26 expedited discovery. Bearing in mind that discovery against agencies is disfavored, it will be 27 limited, but broad enough to be effective. 28 15 Case 3:19-cv-03674-WHA Document 146 Filed 10/19/20 Page 16 of 17 1 2 Two months should do it. The class may take both written discovery and up to five fact depositions of relevant decisionmakers to inquire into, broadly: 3 1. The development and use of the form denial letters, including: (a) the submission, timeline of review, and disposition of any requests for reconsideration; and (b) the form of denial issued before this suit and under the previous administration; 4 5 2. The extent to which the difficulty of reviewing borrowerdefense applications actually caused or justified the Secretary’s eighteen-month delay; 6 7 3. The extent to which the Secretary has denied applications of students who have attended schools subject to findings of misconduct by the Secretary or any other state or federal body or agency, and the rationale underlying those denials. 8 United States District Court Northern District of California 9 10 For now, discovery is limited to the offices of Federal Student Aid, Postsecondary Education, 11 and Career, Technical, and Adult Education within the Office of the Under Secretary. 12 Additionally, at this time, given “[h]eads of government agencies are not normally subject to 13 deposition,” class counsel may not yet depose the Secretary. Kyle Engineering Co. v. Kleppe, 14 600 F.2d 226, 231 (9th Cir. 1979). Extraordinary circumstances, however — for example, if 15 the Secretary has unique first-hand knowledge or necessary information cannot be obtained 16 through other, less intrusive means — may justify such a deposition at a later date. See, e.g., 17 Lederman v. New York City Dep’t of Parks & Rec., 731 F.3d 199, 203 (2d Cir. 2013). 18 The class may seek further depositions, or expansion or extension of discovery via letter 19 brief, to which the Secretary will have the opportunity to respond. At the end of this discovery 20 period, the class shall move for summary judgment as to the lawfulness of the Secretary’s 21 delay and the lawfulness of the perfunctory denial notice. The Secretary may then oppose 22 and/or cross move for the same. 23 3. 24 This leads to the final question. May the Secretary keep issuing potentially unlawful 25 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE. perfunctory denials while we complete discovery and litigate the merits? 26 Through the class comment period and at the October 1 hearing, the undersigned has 27 been struck by the scope of the problem here. The consistency and passion with which the 28 nearly one hundred thirty written commenters, three hundred speaking requests, and the 16 Case 3:19-cv-03674-WHA Document 146 Filed 10/19/20 Page 17 of 17 1 fourteen speakers at the fairness hearing have told their stories leads to the conclusion that their 2 voices are not individual, special cases within the class, but representatives of the class’s 3 shared trauma. This is not an attorney-driven case. Class members have a genuine interest; 4 they sought opportunity via higher education only to be to be deceived by for-profit institutions 5 and, at least in some cases, saddled with crushing debt. United States District Court Northern District of California 6 To maintain the status quo until the merits can be litigated, the question arises whether 7 the denials ought to be preliminarily enjoined. Both parties shall show cause why the 8 Secretary should not be enjoined from further denial of class members’ borrower-defense 9 applications until a ruling on that form of denial can be had. 10 CONCLUSION 11 Final approval of the proposed settlement is DENIED. Discovery (within the bounds 12 described above) closes DECEMBER 24. The class’s motion for summary judgment is due 13 JANUARY 7 AT NOON, to be heard on the ordinary 35-day track (subject to the Secretary’s cross 14 motion). The October 22 hearing is VACATED. The parties SHALL SHOW CAUSE why the 15 Secretary should not be enjoined as described above by OCTOBER 30 AT NOON. 16 IT IS SO ORDERED. 17 18 Dated: October 19, 2020. 19 20 WILLIAM ALSUP UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 17
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