Crown College has been sued sucessfully three times.

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Lawsuits

Joanne Black

This lawsuit was filed as a class action lawsuit in January 2005, while the Gonzalez suit was still pending. It involved six plaintiffs and was never certified as a class action lawsuit. The complaint alleged numerous allegations, including the fact that Crown had misrepresented the transferability of their credits. The suit included not just allegations concerning the sound quality of the Cloud Room, the lack of placement assistance, the quality, or rather lack thereof, of the faculty, grade inflation, a fancy name for students being giving grades unrelated to their performance, mainly to keep them enrolled and the money spigot locked in the on position. The other plaintiffs were Robert Cerka, Shyla Martinez, Piper Sloan, Kris Kidwell and DeShane Naputi. In her deposition in the Gonzalez case Joanne Black clearly details the numerous problems she had with Crown College.

Even though Crown's enrollment agreement and the catalog states that there was no guarantee that the credits transferred, the wording was intentionally crafted to leave open the possibility that they transfer and did not state, what Crown College staff knew, that the credits would not transfer to most of the regionally accredited schools in the country, however that was not disclosed. Students trusted the word of admission representatives who they thought were there to assist them as opposed to deceive them.

The lawsuit was widely reported in the media including the Tacoma News Tribune, the King 5 website, and a King 5 broadcast on local television. In the Tacoma News Tribune article John Wabel haughtily declares that he would win the lawsuit and in the King 5 broadcast he declares he does not see how any student could possibly be led to believe that the credits would transfer. However, despite his protestations, after the Crown College lost the Latesha Gonzalez case at trial, Crown College settled the Joanne Black case for $87,000 as reported in the Tacoma News Tribune.

Latesha Gonzalez

The lawsuit was filed in 2004 right before the Black lawsuit and Crown College vigorously fought it because they knew the outcome would have an effect on the Black case. The publicity generated by the Black lawsuit caused as approximately 20 more students whom Crown College staff had lied to about the transferability of credits to come forward and seek to join the Black lawsuit which was filed as a class. Crown College filed over 10 motions, took over 12 depositions and submitted almost 300 exhibits in an apparent attempt to deluge Gonzalez's attorneys. There were ten former students who testified that they had been told my six different admission representatives that Crown College credits would easily transfer. The first student, Michael Nobles, was from 1998 and the last one attended in March of 2006, a span of 8 years. Michael Nobles' deposition details how Crown was lyng to students back in 1998. Three former Crown College instructors testified, Dr. Peter Jacobsen, Col. David Elder, Esq. and Mary Ann Bardoni-Barbe. Dr. Jacobsen and Col. Elder both testified that John Wabel was well aware of the fact that many students were under the impression that their Crown College credits would transfer and that he did nothing and in fact instructed them to "mind their own business." Ms. Bardoni-Barbe, who now works for Chapman College, testified how frustrating it was for her to have to tell Crown College students that none of their credits would transfer to Chapman College. You can read her deposition here. There was the testimony of two experts who told the jury how and why regionally accredited schools would not take Crown College's credits. In John Wabel's deposition he states that the purchased the school as a good business opportunity and at trial he testified that when he found out that students were being deceived about the transferability of his schools' credits, he "did nothing."

(a)	Stating that they were founded in 1969 when in fact Killebrew/Dalton, Inc.'s involvement with the school only began in 1990 and prior to that it was called Crown Beauty Academy obviously a school complete unrelated to the present Crown College.
(b)	Stating that it confers degrees from the State of Washington, when in fact it exempt from oversight by the State of Washington and the degrees are actually conferred from the ACCSCT.
(c)	Comparing Crown College's tuition costs to those of Capella University, Strayer University, Jones International University and University of Phoenix when those schools are regionally accredited and have no problems transferring their credits.

Ultimately, Crown College lost as a jury found that they had violated the Consumer Protection Act. The judge subsequently awarded $77,000 in attorney fees, and punitive damages of $4,000. The court also issued an injunction as part of its Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. The case was reported in the Tacoma News Tribune and the Seattle Times. In the Seattle Times Mr. Wabel remained defiant and insisted that Ms. Gonzalez had lied when she claimed that the admissions representative told her that the credits would transfer, despite the fact that a jury had already ruled against his school College and 10 other students had testified to the same thing. He also insisted that Crown's College's credits transfer despite the fact that the Director of Admissions of University of Washington and University of Puget Sound both stated that they did not. This case was also reported in the Wall Street Journal and the verdict reported in various other publications.

Lola Jackson

This was the first lawsuit against Crown College. Read the the Second Amended Complaint and the trial brief which explains the circumstances of the case and the extent to which Crown College staff conspired complete the deception perpetuated on the four students involved: Lola Jackson, Amanda C. Ebarb, Alicia Landen and Julia Gaan. Reading the trial brief you will see that admission representatives and even the director of the school, Sheila Mullineaux, explicitly told each of these students that their credits would transfer to specific schools. Other staff stood by while these students spoke openly of their desire to continue their education at such schools. Julia Gaan specifically spoke to the director of the school, Sheila Mullineaux and was told that the credits would transfer. When she found out differently, and complained, she was terminated. It was common knowledge to Crown College's instructors and administrators that Crown College's credits did not transfer. This was just not communicated to the students. Crown College settled the case right before trial in 2004 for a confidential sum.

schools only to find out when they graduated that this was not the case. There a bevy of witnesses including former students, former instructors and expert witnesses from University of Washington who were ready to testify. Mr. Wabel decided to settle the case on the eve of trial. The settlement was confidential but the scuttlebutt was that they received their loan money back.