Lawsuits against Concorde Career College span more than two decades and include student class actions alleging fraudulent recruitment and inflated job placement numbers, a whistleblower suit filed by the company’s own fired CEO, employment discrimination and FMLA claims, and federal and state regulatory actions covering financial aid mismanagement and disability discrimination. Many of these disputes have been routed into private arbitration under a clause Concorde embeds in its enrollment and employment agreements, though several have produced published court decisions, seven-figure arbitration awards, and government settlements.
Student Fraud and Misrepresentation Cases
The largest cluster of litigation involves former students who say Concorde lied about program quality and job outcomes. In May 2013, eight students in the respiratory therapy program filed a class action in Orange County, California. They alleged they had been recruited into a $40,000 program on the promise of a 95 percent job placement rate within six months of graduation. The actual placement rate, according to the complaint, was zero.1Veterans Education Success. For-Profit Report: Concorde Career Colleges, Inc.
A year earlier, three students from the insurance coding and billing program filed their own class action alleging intentional misrepresentation and false advertising. That case was stopped in September 2012 when a California appellate court enforced the arbitration clause in Concorde’s enrollment agreement, a ruling the school would rely on repeatedly afterward.1Veterans Education Success. For-Profit Report: Concorde Career Colleges, Inc.
In Missouri, Katherine Dolly and Kiley Elliot sued Concorde in October 2015 under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, alleging fraudulent misrepresentation and negligent misrepresentation. The trial court initially refused to send the case to arbitration, finding Concorde had waived that right by filing dozens of its own collection lawsuits against students in Missouri circuit courts. The Missouri Court of Appeals reversed in 2017, ruling that Dolly and Elliot had not shown they were personally harmed by Concorde’s litigation against other students. The appellate court sent the case back to the trial court to decide whether a valid arbitration agreement had been formed and whether it was unconscionable.2FindLaw. Dolly v. Concorde Career Colleges, Inc.
A more recent enrollment dispute followed the same pattern. In Colquitt v. Concorde Career College – Dallas, former dental hygiene student Zedric Colquitt brought a breach-of-contract action in federal court in Texas. In April 2023, a magistrate judge granted Concorde’s unopposed motion to compel arbitration and dismissed the case with prejudice.3Trellis Law. Colquitt v. Concorde Career College – Dallas
How Concorde’s Arbitration Clause Has Shaped Outcomes
Concorde’s enrollment agreement requires that “any dispute arising from enrollment” be resolved through binding arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act, administered by the American Arbitration Association in Kansas City, Missouri.2FindLaw. Dolly v. Concorde Career Colleges, Inc. The clause is the reason so few student cases against the school reach a jury.
Courts have not treated it uniformly. In Dolly, the Missouri Court of Appeals held that the provision did not “clearly and unmistakably” delegate questions about its own enforceability to an arbitrator, so judges kept the authority to decide whether the agreement was valid in the first place. The court also allowed evidence of Concorde’s history of suing students in open court and of a later, more explicit arbitration agreement the school developed as relevant to the students’ arguments about lack of mutual assent and unconscionability.2FindLaw. Dolly v. Concorde Career Colleges, Inc. In the 2012 California coding-and-billing case and the 2023 Colquitt case, by contrast, the clause held up and ended the court proceedings.
One boundary is worth knowing if you attended Concorde. The school’s admissions resource page states that students cannot be required to go through arbitration or internal dispute resolution before filing a borrower defense to repayment claim with the U.S. Department of Education, and that the school cannot require students to waive that right.4Concorde Career Colleges. Admissions Resources
The CEO Whistleblower Lawsuit
In March 2015, Concorde’s recently fired CEO, John L. Hopkins, sued the company in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. Hopkins had signed an agreement in October 2014 extending his tenure through 2018 with “for cause” termination provisions. Eleven days later, he was fired.5U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. Hopkins v. Concorde Career Colleges, Inc., Memorandum Opinion
Hopkins alleged Concorde ran a de facto quota system requiring recruiters to enroll a set number of students each week, and that an informal practice called “career match” pressured prospective nursing students into less popular programs to inflate enrollment. He claimed these practices violated the Higher Education Act’s incentive compensation ban and Department of Education regulations, creating a risk of defrauding the federal government. According to the complaint, he reported the concerns to outside counsel and regional admissions directors before being terminated without explanation.6Whistleblower Attorneys Blog. Concorde Career Colleges, Inc. Terminates CEO, Uncovers Fraud
His claims included retaliation under the federal False Claims Act, breach of contract, and violations of the Delaware Whistleblowers’ Protection Act and the Oregon Whistleblower Protection Statute. Concorde counterclaimed for “fraudulent inducement,” arguing Hopkins had never intended to fulfill his promises about work schedule and physical presence. In March 2016, the federal court dismissed that counterclaim, ruling Concorde had not pleaded specific facts showing Hopkins harbored fraudulent intent when he made the promises.5U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. Hopkins v. Concorde Career Colleges, Inc., Memorandum Opinion The available record does not indicate a final verdict or settlement.
Employment Lawsuits and Settlements
Employment cases have produced some of Concorde’s largest reported financial exposures. In an arbitration captioned Doe v. Concorde Career Colleges, Inc., a former employee alleged she was fired one week after formally requesting Family and Medical Leave Act leave to care for a spouse undergoing cancer treatment. After a week-long hearing, the arbitrator awarded $2.2 million in total damages, including $500,000 in punitive damages and roughly $600,000 in attorneys’ fees.7Ceartas Legal. Trial Verdicts and Arbitration Awards
A California Private Attorneys General Act case, Diana Pedraza Lopez et al. v. Concorde Career Colleges, Inc., was filed in August 2023 on behalf of 579 aggrieved employees covering nearly 18,000 pay periods. It settled in August 2025 for a gross amount of $590,000, with $341,050 designated for PAGA penalties, $206,500 for attorney fees, $35,000 for litigation expenses, and $7,450 for the settlement administrator. An individual PAGA payment of $85,263 was also included.8CABIA. Diana Pedraza Lopez et al. v. Concorde Career Colleges, Inc.
More recently, Suzie Knight v. Concorde Career Colleges, Inc., an employment discrimination case filed in San Bernardino County Superior Court in November 2025, was removed to the California Central District Court in January 2026. On January 28, 2026, Judge Jesus G. Bernal granted a joint stipulation sending Knight’s claims to arbitration and staying the proceedings.9PACER Monitor. Suzie Knight v. Concorde Career Colleges, Inc. et al
Federal and State Regulatory Actions
Government agencies have opened their own investigations. In 2010, the Florida Attorney General began looking into Concorde for allegedly violating state laws against deceptive or unfair business practices; the available record does not indicate a public resolution.1Veterans Education Success. For-Profit Report: Concorde Career Colleges, Inc.
A Department of Education Office of Inspector General audit found that Concorde improperly retained approximately $500,000 in taxpayer funds because of incomplete recordkeeping and errors in its “return to Title IV” calculations, the process schools must follow to return financial aid money when students drop out. After Liberty Partners acquired Concorde in 2006, the resulting drop in the company’s tangible net worth prompted the Department of Education to require the school to post a letter of credit of roughly $12 million as a guarantee against potential campus closures.10U.S. Senate HELP Committee. Senate HELP Committee Report: Concorde
In 2001, the U.S. Department of Justice reached a settlement with Concorde Career Institute under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Prospective student Mark D. Stivers had alleged officials at the Anaheim, California campus unlawfully imposed special conditions on his admission because they “regarded him as disabled.” Concorde agreed to stop imposing extra admission requirements on applicants with disabilities, to conduct individualized eligibility assessments, to train management and admissions staff on ADA requirements within 180 days, and to pay Stivers $3,000. The agreement lasted two years and did not constitute an admission of liability.11U.S. Department of Justice. Settlement Agreement Between the United States and Concorde Career Institute
Separately, a document from U.S. Senator Ed Markey’s office listed both “Concorde Career College” and “Concorde Career Institute” among institutions for which the Department of Education possessed evidence of misconduct sufficient to support borrower defense to repayment relief, and urged the Department to issue group discharges.12U.S. Senate. Department of Education Borrower Defense Discharges
Who Owns Concorde Now
Concorde changed hands in December 2022, when Universal Technical Institute, Inc. completed an all-cash acquisition of the company from Liberty Partners for $50 million.13Universal Technical Institute. Universal Technical Institute Expands Platform With Completion of Concorde Career Colleges Acquisition It now operates as UTI’s healthcare education division, running 17 campuses across eight states under the Concorde Career College and Concorde Career Institute brands and offering 25 programs in healthcare and dental fields.14Concorde Career Colleges. About Us Current and former students weighing a claim should note that the enrollment agreement’s arbitration clause has typically controlled where these disputes are heard, and that the borrower defense process at the Department of Education is a separate route the school cannot force you to waive.