Judge Dismisses Claims by Students Over Exam

A federal judge this week dismissed three damage claims filed by students at Crescenta Valley High School against a national testing organization that invalidated their college placement examinations after some of the students cheated on the tests.

In a pretrial hearing Monday, U. S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson dismissed students’ claims that the decision by Educational Testing Service violated the California Education Code, that it denied students due process and that it caused the students to suffer emotional distress.

Wilson is expected to rule Monday on whether to dismiss the three remaining additional claims of fraud, negligent misrepresentation and breach of contract filed by the students against the testing service. The suit is scheduled to go to trial Tuesday.

The complaint was filed after the Princeton, N.J.-based organization invalidated the May exams when seven of the 79 students who took them were caught cheating. The suit asks for unspecified damages and for reinstatement of the test scores of students who did not cheat on the test.

The testing organization agreed in August to pay the costs of readministering the test and sent letters to students’ colleges explaining the reason for the delay.