$5M Preliminary Settlement Reached With Stone Academy: CT Attorney General

WEST HAVEN, CT — Connecticut Attorney General William Tong announced Friday that a $5 million preliminary settlement has been reached with Stone Academy and its owners to resolve claims filed by the state and former students involving accusations of unfair and deceptive conduct at the defunct for-profit nursing school.

Stone had promised an education that would position students to become Licensed Practical Nurses in less than two years, with hands-on training from industry leaders, according to officials.

“Instead, they shuttered abruptly in February 2023, leaving student education plans in limbo and little to show for their investments in time and money,” officials wrote in a news release. “Stone lacked textbooks and experienced teachers, and did not deliver on promised and necessary clinical training. While students struggled with subpar materials in unheated classrooms, the state’s investigation revealed that Stone took in millions of dollars in revenues and continued to enroll new students into its programs.”

The proposed settlement would resolve all claims filed by the state arising from Stone Academy’s misconduct, including those against Career Training Specialists LLC d/b/a Stone Academy, Paier College of Art, Inc., and Joseph Bierbaum, and all claims by the Ridenhour private class action against Stone Academy, Joseph Bierbaum, and Creative Career Trust, and against the state, according to Tong.

“Stone Academy unconscionably deprived its students of the education and opportunities they were promised,” Tong said in a statement. “Those wasted hours and deferred dreams are impossible to fully recover. This preliminary settlement returns millions of dollars back to the students who were harmed, and provides new, legitimate opportunities for real training and career advancement. We will continue to work alongside Stone students to seek additional relief—including loan forgiveness and potential state aid—to provide every remedy possible.”

Specific compensation to individual impacted students will be determined through the private class action process, subject to court approval. The state will not retain any of the $5 million, aside from $150,000 which will be used to help Stone students prepare for exit exams, according to Tong.

In addition to the $5 million cash payment, the settlement “outlines a series of measures to assist impacted students in completing their education and professional exams, including remedial programs and the potential for students to complete their studies through Griffin Hospital School of Allied Health Careers,” according to the news release.

“The Department of Public Health will end licensure investigations based solely on a nurse’s attendance at Stone Academy,” the news release states. “Further, Bierbaum will be barred from employment anywhere in higher education for five years. Should Stone Academy’s former owners and officers seek to open, own or operate any other for-profit schools in Connecticut, they must notify the Office of the Attorney General.”

In addition to the settlement relief, the Office of the Attorney General has petitioned the United States Department of Education to discharged student loan debt related to Stone Academy. The Office of the Attorney General intends to work with students in the class action to seek state legislation this session to enable additional reimbursements of out-of-pocket tuition costs incurred by Stone Academy students, as well as support to help former Stone students obtain careers in healthcare, according to the news release.

The terms of the preliminary settlement will be filed Friday in Hartford Superior Court and are subject to court approval. A hearing will then be scheduled for the judge to review and potentially approve the settlement, according to Tong.

Republican state Sen. Henri Martin, ranking senator on the legislature’s Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee, said the preliminary settlement was “encouraging news.”

“Stone Academy students were harmed by unfair and deceptive conduct, and the Attorney General’s ongoing efforts to pursue justice in this unfortunate situation are appreciated,” Martin said in a statement. “In the legislature, we have worked in bipartisan fashion to provide direct relief to former Stone Academy students.

“We have a nursing shortage, and it is essential that we continue to work across multiple branches of government to help these students get their careers back on track and make them whole.”