The former owners of a string of private post-secondary schools in Newfoundland and Labrador and other provinces have failed in their attempt to have the government of the day deemed responsible for them going out of business.

Lorraine Lush Mastropietro and John Mastropietro filed the suit 16 years ago. They owned the Newfoundland Career Academy, which went bankrupt in 1998.

Their lawyer, Will Hiscock, says it’s a complicated case involving almost $20-million owed to creditors.

The two who filed the suit accused then-education minister Roger Grimes of acting unlawfully when government changed the student loan policy. Instead of giving students the full amount of the student loan at the beginning of the year, government paid it out in installments per semester.

The Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador has declined to hear the case.