Former students at the private Westerdals School of Communications have hired a lawyer to help them recover excessive amounts of school fees from the school’s owners. They’re seeking compensation after the school was found to have overcharged tuition fees between 2002 and 2012.
“We will try to avoid a lawsuit and prefer to settle this out of court,” Harald Strømstad, a partner at the DLA Piper law firm in Oslo, told newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN). If that’s not successful, DLA Piper will help the students file a class action lawsuit against Anthon B Nilsen, the firm owning Westerdals that in turn is controlled by two brothers in Norway’s prominent Løvenskiold family.
DN broke the news about how the owners had illegally withdrawn dividends based on the school’s operations, and charged much higher tuition than allowed under state regulations, since the state also had provided financial support to the school. The school has since admitted to irregularities over the years and appears keen to address the students’ concerns and claims. Anthon B Nilsen also operates the private high schools Bjørknes, NKI and Treider.
newsinenglish.no staff
