Stone Academy trial postponed as Paier students consider lawsuit of their own

(WFSB) – The trial for the class-action lawsuit filed against the owners of Stone Academy is postponed.

Jury selection was originally scheduled to begin Tuesday September 10th. All the upcoming trial dates are now listed as “off” on the court’s calendar. The I-team has reached out to the clerk’s office as well as the lawyers involved to ask why the trial is delayed. The I-Team has not heard back.

Students at Paier College are closely watching what happens with the Stone Academy trial because they are considering filing a class-action lawsuit of their own. Both Stone Academy and Paier College are owned by Joseph Bierbaum.

Shelby Emerson is a student at Paier College who says she only has 3 classes left to finish her graphic design degree.

“I really love designing logos for companies,” said Emerson.

Emerson says she chose Paier College because of its reputation and history. Paier was first founded in 1946.

“It was supposed to be very, very pristine. I wanted the Paier name because the Paier name was a big name,” said Emerson.

Emerson says she started to notice changes after Stone Academy’s closure. All three of Stone Academy’s campuses abruptly closed in February 2023. The closure left hundreds of students with thousands of dollars in debt but no degree. In the state’s lawsuit filed against Stone Academy and its owners, Paier College is listed as a defendant alleging “Stone subsidized nearly $1 million of Paier College’s expenses each year using stone revenue—in other words, tuition money.”

Emerson says after all the Stone news broke, the quality of his campus experience changed.

“The whole environment changed,” said Emerson. “The Bridgeport campus had no heat, had no air, all of our concerns kind of fell on deaf ears.”

In May, the I-Team first reported Paier had no faculty on staff while it still accepted applications.

In August, Paier announced it was postponing its fall semester pending an investigation by the state.

Emerson is losing his faith that things will turn around.

“I can’t do this anymore. I want to finish,” Emerson said. “I don’t think they are coming back. It doesn’t sound like it.”

Emerson is worried history is about to repeat itself.

“I think we’re heading in the same direction as stone. If we’re not already there,” said Emerson. “It just amazes me that one person can over the course of 3 years have destroyed two pristine schools that Connecticut had to offer.”

Paier did not return the I-Team’s request for comment on Monday September 9th.

On August 12th, a Paier spokesperson told the I-Team “the college is prepared to begin the semester as soon as the application reviews are completed.”

Emerson says she will be watching what happens with the Stone Academy case. She says students have been talking about filing a class-action lawsuit of their own.

“They owe us an education. I paid $48,000 for an education that I don’t have,” said Emerson.

Bierbaum is in the process of trying to sell Paier college, but that change of ownership also needs to be approved by the Office of Higher Education. Staff from OHE visited Paier just last week as part of the ongoing investigation.