Alerts

New York Private Schools May Have to Show Damages to Collect Full Tuition in Breach of Tuition Contract Case

September 18, 2009

Private school enrollment contracts frequently obligate families to pay full tuition for the school year even if a student does not ultimately attend the school. In Gunderson v. Park West Montessori Inc., No. 602195/08 (N.Y. Sup. Aug. 24, 2009), a case pending in the New York State Supreme Court, a couple signed a standard contract on Dec. 20, 2007, obligating them to pay full tuition to a Montessori pre-school for the 2008-09 school year. The parents opted for a payment plan providing for quarterly payments on the first day of May, August and November 2008, and February 2009. After paying the first installment of $4,700, but before the school year even began, the family decided to move out of the state. On April 10, 2008, five months prior to the start of the school year, the parents informed the school that their child would not be attending their institution for the 2008-09 school year, prompting the school, in accordance with the terms of its contract with the family, to demand the remaining tuition payments. The parents then commenced a lawsuit seeking to enjoin the school from securing a judgment against them for the full tuition and for a return of the $4,700 already paid. The school counterclaimed for the full balance owed under the agreement.