On January 3, 2011, Bloomberg reported that a shareholder of DeVry Inc. is suing fourteen of the for-profit educational company's officers and directors. The shareholder derivative action alleges DeVry's financial aid policies and recruitment tactics harmed the company, and have left students with enormous debt and few employment prospects.
Represented by Robbins Umeda LLP,* the shareholder filed the lawsuit Monday, January 3, in an Illinois state court, naming Chief Executive Officer Daniel M. Hamburger, Chairman Harold T. Shapiro, and twelve additional defendants. The suit seeks a court order for the officers to pay restitution and reform DeVry's corporate governance.
DeVry Inc. operates DeVry University, which has more than 73,500 students, as well as Chamberlain College of Nursing, Carrington College, and the Keller Graduate School of Management. According to the complaint, funding from federal student loan programs accounted for 74% of DeVry's 2009 cash revenue, and its students' loan repayment rate is just 37%.
The case is Hald v. Hamburger, et al., Case No. 11CH00087, filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, County Department, Chancery Division.
* The firm name changed from Robbins Umeda LLP to Robbins LLP on January 1, 2013.