Judge tosses K claim against UPenn for promising Wharton degree

A student who sued Penn's Wharton School of Business for not giving him the degree he said he was promised has seen the second jury verdict in his favor tossed out by a Philadelphia federal judge.

Seems that Frank Reynolds enrolled in Penn's Executive Masters in Technology Management program, and paid some $66,000 in tuition.  The program led him to believe that it was a Wharton School program, but when he completed it he got a degree from Penn's engineering college instead.  He sued, and won a jury verdict for breach of contract for $436,000.  The judge tossed that and ordered a new trial.  The second jury found no breach, but awarded him a refund of his $66,000 in tuition on the ground that Penn had been "unjustly enriched."

The judge then tossed that verdict, holding (as reported in the newspaper) that since there was a contract between the parties, Reynolds could not recover under a theory of unjust enrichment.

Reynolds, the CEO of a Massachusetts biotech firm, is something of a collector of degrees according to his bio.  He has an MBA from MIT, an MS in Technology Management from Wharton; an MS in Engineering from Penn; an MS in Management Information Systems from Temple; an MS in Heath Administration from St. Joseph's; and an MS in Psychology from Chestnut Hill.

FGS