Former students of Virginia Western Community College's nursing program have been awarded a $2.4 million settlement against the Roanoke school.
The plaintiffs claimed the school didn't notify nursing students quickly enough that Virginia Western's national accreditation had been pulled.
They argued the school defrauded them and breached a contract, as a result prevented them from getting certain jobs.
The money has been divided among the 73 students. They were in the school's nursing program between 2005 and 2007.
16 students went to trial last summer and won. The plaintiffs say they settled the case because they feared the appeals process would take years.
"They're anxious to put this behind them and move on and that's one of the things the settlement permits them, there's a finality," said Attorney John Fishwick.
"This case has been very important to us, because we strongly believe that schools should keep students fully apprised of the accreditation status of their programs. We are very pleased with the settlement," said Plaintiff Gwendolyn Spangler.
The settlement was not necesarily split evenly between the students. The students who already went to trial got slightly more money.
The students sought $100,000 each on the fraud charge. As for the breach of contract charge, the lawsuit specified it would be determine at trial.
Because the settlement included state money, Governor McDonnell and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli had to sign off on it. The money was paid for by Virginia Western and Virginia's Department of Risk Management.
The plaintiff's attorney acknowledges most of the plaintiffs have received jobs but mainly in the Roanoke area.
The school issued this statement Monday:
"The college maintains its position that the students involved in the case were not shown to have been negatively impacted in their pursuit of additional education or careers. We will continue to uphold this position, but feel that it is in the best interest of our current and future students to move past this chapter in our history."
