Facts

Masters Institute in San Jose is a vocational school specializing in systems administration and multi-media. Students attend for vocational training in these fields, generally in an 18-month program. In 1997, 101 former students filed suit claiming that Masters had engaged in a fraudulent recruiting practices and violations of the Education Code, and that Masters had provided an inadequate education. Additional plaintiffs later joined, and the three lawsuits were consolidated; the total number of plaintiffs was approximately 146. In April 2000, after nearly 100 plaintiffs had either voluntarily dismissed their claims or been dismissed for failure to provide discovery, Judge Conrad Rushing granted defendant's motion for terminating sanctions against 71 remaining plaintiffs. The court found that plaintiffs' discovery misconduct, which included false and contradictory statements under oath, bad faith objections, evasive and incomplete responses, and similar misconduct, amounted to "a fraud on the court" and that plaintiffs did not have a meritorious case.