Nova Sued by Student
Major English language school Nova has been sued by a former student for the return of unused tuition fees, according to a Kyodo story. Under the school's points system, the 37-year old man from Shiga Prefecture paid ¥820,000 for textbooks and 600 points for lessons in March 2000. Over the course of two years, he used only 54 points worth ¥68,000 before ending his contract. Nova claimed that most of the man's unused points had expired under its contract and returned about ¥45,000. In his lawsuit, filed at the Kyoto Summary Court, the plaintiff says that Nova's tuition repayment system is violating the law and called for the return of ¥700,000 of the unused tuition fees. "Nova is allowed to keep only ¥130,000 in this case if it followed the law governing commercial contracts," he said.

May 14, 2003