Merrimack College v. KPMG LLP

VERDICT

Trial
10/28/19 – 11/19/19

Summary

KPMG will not have to pay any damages in a college’s malpractice lawsuit alleging they should have detected fraud in the school’s financial aid office, after a Massachusetts state court jury on Tuesday found the accounting giant only 15 percent liable.

While the jury did award Merrimack College $100,000, Massachusetts law prohibits a plaintiff from collecting damages if their share of liability exceeds that of a defendant.

Merrimack, a private college in North Andover, sued KPMG in 2014 claiming that audits it carried out from 1998 to 2004 should have alerted school officials that the director of financial aid at the time, Christine Mordach, was fraudulently issuing student loans and falsifying records. They claimed KPMG’s supposed negligence cost the school $7.4 million.

KPMG argued their audits were adequate, and that it was Merrimack’s responsibility to detect and prevent fraud by its own employees.

Outcome

Verdict for Plaintiff - $150k award.

Jury found for Merrimac, damages awarded $100,000.00, found that KPMG was negligent (15%), that Merrimac was 85% comparatively negligent for 1999 to 2002. As to later years 2002 and later, Jury found damages were $50,000.00; that KPMG was 7.5% negligent, and that Christine Murdach was 92.5% responsible due to her fraud.

Case Information
Attorneys
Witnesses
Plaintiff
Defense
Verdict
$150,000
Judge
Janet Sanders
Jurisdiction
Superior Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk County
Court
Suffolk County Courthouse
Case Number
1484CV02098
Industry
Accounting, Education
Practice Area
Malpractice
Plaintiff
Merrimack College
Defense
KPMG LLP
Expert Witnesses
Lay Witnesses

Sessions

OCT
28
OCT
29
OCT
30
OCT
31
NOV
1
NOV
4
NOV
5
NOV
6
NOV
7
NOV
8
NOV
12
NOV
14
PM Session
Verdict
3 Chapters
NOV
19

Recording Disclaimer: This proceeding was recorded in full.

AudioCaseFiles

Exclusive audio opinions to enhance your law school experience

AudioCaseFiles

Essentials

The most important and informative moments of each trial

Essentials

Training Libraries

Trial Advocacy, Rules of Evidence and Appellate Advocacy

Training

  • Follow Us