The State of Hawaii has settled the pending litigation against The First Church of International Christian Counselors dba Golden Pacific University and its principal, Mr. Edward Michaelson of California. The settlement is documented by a Stipulated Judgment and Permanent Injunction which was filed with the First Circuit Court of the State of Hawaii on October 2, 2002. Under the terms of the settlement, GPU and Mr. Michaelson are enjoined from operation of any unaccredited degree granting insitutions in, from or under the claimed authority of Hawaii and its laws. The defendants have also agreed to offer full restitution to GPU graduates and students and have paid a civil penalty of $2,500. Anyone wishing to see an unfiled electronic version of the stipulated judgment may email requests to [email protected] Jeffrey E. Brunton Staff Attorney Office of Consumer Protection State of Hawaii
How many students and "graduates" will be getting a refund? Any idea as to the out of pocket costs to the fine folks who ran this venerable institution of higher education? Wes
At least that many graduates can be found on Internet searches, which suggests that GPU may be somewhat modest in their claim.
We are only pursuing relief on behalf of students/graduates post July 1, 1999 (the date our strengthened law became effective). From a resource perspective, we are constrained to take the university at its word regarding the number of students/graduates. Of course, if the university or any of its officials were to submit false information to a government agency in the course of an official government investigation, that would be a whole different situation.