Case Explained: TURREY, ET AL. V. VERVENT, INC., ET AL.

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Filed: 2026-08-12 Docket: 3:20-cv-00697- The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s judgment in favor of plaintiffs in a civil RICO action against student loan servicers, holding that the jury had sufficient evidence to find the claims were not time-barred by RICO’s four-year statute of limitations. The court applied the “injury discovery” rule, under which the limitations period begins when a plaintiff knows or reasonably should have known of the fraud-induced nature of their injury. The panel concluded that ordinary student borrowers could not have reasonably discovered the fraudulent concealment underlying the PEAKS loan program merely from making payments or observing complex regulatory investigations into ITT Educational Services prior to 2016; rather, inquiry notice did not arise until ITT’s high-profile collapse and bankruptcy in September 2016. Consequently, the lawsuit filed in April 2020 fell within the statutory window. Additionally, the court held that defendants failed to preserve their challenge regarding proximate causation for appellate review because the district court’s denial of summary judgment on that issue turned on disputed factual matters, and the defendants did not renew a specific sufficiency challenge to that theory in their post-trial Rule 50(b) motions. The practical consequence is that the twelve-million-dollar jury verdict stands, and the case is remanded with instructions to enforce the judgment as entered. Do It For The Case Law is a news reporting service. Nothing in this episode constitutes legal advice.