Supreme Court Denies Monaghan
Sun, Dec16, 2007 - Category: University
UPDATE,
12/17/07 - Michigan Lawyers Weekly has
additional coverage
On Friday (Dec. 14), the Michigan Supreme Court denied Tom Monaghan's request that the Court review his failed appeal involving a wrongful termination whistleblower lawsuit filed by former Ave Maria College employee Katherine Ernsting. For well over 2.5 years, Monaghan tried every legal approach in the book to keep Ernsting's case from coming to trial. The Supreme Court was his last hope. The Court said:
"On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the March 6, 2007 judgment of the Court of Appeals is considered, and it is DENIED, because we are not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this Court."
A copy of the Court's ruling is here (PDF).
Ernsting was fired by Monaghan shortly after she provided the U.S. Department of Education (ED) with information requested by the ED concerning Ave Maria operations. That investigation ultimately caught Ave Maria in a financial aid sleight of hand that was benefiting the start-up Ave Maria University in Florida. Monaghan was forced to pay over $250,000 back to the government. Monaghan's lawyers claim that Ernsting's termination was part of the "wind down" of Ave Maria College Michigan. But, this appears to be a weak argument since, at the time of Ernsting's firing, there were still approximately 200 students at the College. The law mandates that a person be assigned to oversee the distribution of federal aid at an academic institution; so, another person was hired to replace Ernsting as chief financial aid officer of the College.
The Ernsting case has already received attention in the legal media; since the case is now free to go to trial, it will surely receive more public attention.
Ernsting case background | Supreme Court case background
A summary of the AveWatch articles that cover the growing number of lawsuits against Tom Monaghan can be found here. AveWatch's RSS Feed is here (try Google Reader).
On Friday (Dec. 14), the Michigan Supreme Court denied Tom Monaghan's request that the Court review his failed appeal involving a wrongful termination whistleblower lawsuit filed by former Ave Maria College employee Katherine Ernsting. For well over 2.5 years, Monaghan tried every legal approach in the book to keep Ernsting's case from coming to trial. The Supreme Court was his last hope. The Court said:
"On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the March 6, 2007 judgment of the Court of Appeals is considered, and it is DENIED, because we are not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this Court."
A copy of the Court's ruling is here (PDF).
Ernsting was fired by Monaghan shortly after she provided the U.S. Department of Education (ED) with information requested by the ED concerning Ave Maria operations. That investigation ultimately caught Ave Maria in a financial aid sleight of hand that was benefiting the start-up Ave Maria University in Florida. Monaghan was forced to pay over $250,000 back to the government. Monaghan's lawyers claim that Ernsting's termination was part of the "wind down" of Ave Maria College Michigan. But, this appears to be a weak argument since, at the time of Ernsting's firing, there were still approximately 200 students at the College. The law mandates that a person be assigned to oversee the distribution of federal aid at an academic institution; so, another person was hired to replace Ernsting as chief financial aid officer of the College.
The Ernsting case has already received attention in the legal media; since the case is now free to go to trial, it will surely receive more public attention.
Ernsting case background | Supreme Court case background
A summary of the AveWatch articles that cover the growing number of lawsuits against Tom Monaghan can be found here. AveWatch's RSS Feed is here (try Google Reader).