eastern division people of the state of illinois, ) alta ... · case: 1:14-cv-03786 document #: 25...

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS

EASTERN DIVISION PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) Case No. 14-cv-3786 vs. ) ) ALTA COLLEGES, INC., et al ) Judge Ronald Guzman )

Defendants. ) Mag. Judge Geraldine Soat Brown

MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO SEVER COUNT I, DECLINE SUPP. JURISDICTION ON COUNT II, AND REMAND COUNTS I & II

For two years, the parties litigated a single Count complaint in front of Judge Kathleen

Kennedy in Illinois state court in which the State of Illinois alleged that Defendants, who operate

for-profit career-focused schools in Illinois and other states, had violated the Illinois Consumer

Fraud Act (“ICFA”) by making misleading statements and omitting to state material facts to

prospective and enrolled students in Defendants’ criminal justice program touching on nearly

every important aspect of the education purportedly offered by Defendants.

On May 6, 2014, the state court granted Plaintiff’s motion for leave to file a Second

Amended Complaint (“SAC”) that added three new Counts. Each new Count asserted that

institutional financing offered by Defendants to its students was structurally unfair and/or

abusive under Illinois and federal law, owing to a default rate that ensnared a majority of

students who used the financing. On May 22, 2014, Defendants removed the action.

Plaintiff now requests that the Court sever Count I of the SAC pursuant to 28 U.S.C.

§1442(c)(2), as Count I arises from a separate and distinct nucleus of operative facts and is

outside of this Court’s supplemental jurisdiction. In addition, Plaintiff requests that the Court

decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Count II, which alleges that Defendants’

Case: 1:14-cv-03786 Document #: 25 Filed: 06/18/14 Page 1 of 80 PageID #:383

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