Posted by Maleesha Silva.
Anna Alaburda was a 2008 graduate of Thomas Jefferson School of Law (TJSL). She graduated with honors and had even went on to pass the California Bar Exam. However, she was unable to find a suitable job after graduation and decided to sue TJSL. The plaintiff claimed the defendant, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, committed the act of fraud. She states they lied about employment information after graduation and how much graduates actually made after attending TJSL.
Alaburda “sought $92,192 in lost income” and “$32,475” in tuition (Zaretsky). However, she ended up losing her case in a 9-3 verdict. Part of the reason the jury ended up siding with the Thomas Jefferson School of Law was because Alaburda had been offered a job before after graduation, yet rejected it. They probably felt that this conflicted with her claim that the school lied about how many students are employed after graduation, due to the fact that she herself was offered a job.
In my opinion, I feel Alaburda should have won her case if she was able to prove that the Thomas Jefferson School of Law had actually committed fraud by falsifying information about their employment rates and graduation salaries. However, it is apparent by the outcome of this court case that she was not able to sufficiently prove her claim.
Maleesha is an accounting major at the Feliciano School of Business, Montclair State University, Class of 2019.