Former Soar Aviation and Box Hill Institute (BHI) aviation students are set for a $33 million payout if a settlement reached in September is approved by the Supreme Court next month.
Four former Diploma of Aviation students–Nerita Somers, Adel Hassanein, Matthew Lamont and Felix Ouldanov–led a class action through Gordon Legal that sued BHI and Soar Aviation for breach of contract, claiming that the schools failed to deliver the promised training to enable them to qualify as commercial pilots.
BHI was also accused of unconscionable conduct in the way they billed students for training and engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct in that they told students the course would enable them to qualify for a CPL after 14 months of full-time or two years of part-time study.
In January 2020, the Australian Skills Quality Authority revoked BHI's approval to offer the Diploma of Aviation and canceled Soar's Registered Training Organisation (RTO) status. Soar Aviation went into administration in December 2020.
The settlement also means that claims against Soar Aviation as second defendent will be discontinued.
If approved, the payout will enable a large number of former CPL candidates to recover money to offset VET FEE-HELP debts. The payout does not mean that BHI has admitted any liability, and Soar Aviation has been excluded from contributing to the payout because there are no significant assets left.
According to court documents, the plaintiffs contended that Box Hill TAFE:
- did not have BAK material that enabled the students to reach CASA standards
- set exam standards were too low
- had no system of monitoring student progress
- tried to persuade or require students to join RAAus and get a pilot certificate and then convert it to an RPL, bypassing CASA's minimum standards for RPL
- did not have a sufficient number of flying instructors available, resulting in a lack of training continuity, regularly canceled lessons and poor retention of training.
The court action concludes that it was never possible under these circumstances for students to gain a CPL within the time frame promised.
"The plaintiffs and Box Hill Institute have agreed to resolve the proceedings," a prepared statement from the parties reads. "Box Hill Institute makes no admissions as to liability or the allegations made. The proposed settlement is subject to court approval.
"The court has listed the proceedings for a preliminary hearing of the settlement approval application on 14 September 2022, at which time it is expected that details of the proposed settlement will be provided to the court and group members.
"At this time, the terms of the proposed settement are confidential and the parties will not be making further public comment."
The approval hearing is scheduled for 17 November before Honourable Justice Dixon of the Supreme Court of Victoria.
More information including instructions for making a claim are on the class action website.