U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim has held Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in contempt for violating an order she issued May 2018. Judge Kim ordered the Dept. of Edu to stop “collecting on student loans owed by students of a defunct for-profit Corinthian Colleges.”
The judge has ordered the agency to pay $100, 000 ” to the counsel of the student loan borrowers in the class-action lawsuit. “
“Given that there are over 16,000 borrowers who have suffered damages from Defendants’ violation of the preliminary injunction, and given that there may be some administrative expenses to remedy the harm, the Court finds the amount reasonable,” the judge wrote.
The judge said she was leaving open the possibility that if DeVos and the Education Department continue to violate her order, she would “impose additional sanctions, including the appointment of a Special Master to ensure compliance with the preliminary injunction.”
The contempt finding and sanctions arose out of a lawsuit against DeVos over her policy that provides only partial loan forgiveness to some borrowers whom the Education Department determines were defrauded by their colleges.
