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ACT Class Action Lawsuit: $16 Million Settlement for Students with Disabilities

ACT Class Action Lawsuit: $16 Million Settlement for Students with Disabilities
10/23/2020
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Susan Dutca-Lovell

ACT, Inc., the college admissions testing company, has agreed to pay out $16 million to 65,728 California students with disabilities to settle a class-action lawsuit. The class-action federal lawsuit filed in California in 2018 alleged that ACT, Inc. violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and California's Unruh Civil Rights Act by disclosing test-takers' disability status to colleges and scholarship organizations on score reports, and denied certain examinees with disabilities an equal opportunity to participate in its Educational Opportunity Service.

The Educational Opportunity Service is a student search service that ACT, Inc. sells to colleges to help them identify potential students to recruit. The company allegedly discriminated against students with disabilities by making it more difficult for them to participate in this program.

Denying any wrongdoing, ACT, Inc. agreed to the settlement to avoid the costs and inherent uncertainty of protracted litigation. ACT, Inc. has also agreed not to resume certain practices related to the collection and use of disability information and the process for enrolling in the Educational Opportunity Service that were the basis of this action, according to Businesswire. $16 million is the largest settlement agreed to by an admissions testing company, according to FairTest: The National Center for Fair & Open Testing.

The preliminary approval of the settlement was granted on October 1, 2020, and the final fairness hearing will be April 1, 2021. If you believe that you are entitled to compensation under the settlement, please read the notice to determine your legal rights and options in this settlement here.

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