A Supreme Court Justice will rule on Monday if a law suit filed by The Newfoundland Career Academy can proceed against the provincial government.

At issue is if even more time in court is required to prove what the Mastropietros claim, which is if the province acted outside the law when cutting off student loan money to the Career Academy in the late 1990s.

Lorraine Lush Mastropietro and her husband,John, filed the suit sixteen years ago. Their college actually closed its doors in 1998, putting hundreds of people out of work – leaving more than two thousand students in the lurch.

Will Hiscock is representring the Mastropietros. He says there are a number of reasons why it has taken this long to get to trial.

Hiscock says there was a significant amount of time that his clients did not have a lawyer. There was also the matter of attaching the Career Academy, which had gone bankrupt, to the court action. He says that means creditors who lost money are now included as well.

It’s a complicated case involving almost $20-million owed to those creditors. Hiscock says that’s why he’s trying to have the matter heard over a two day period rather than dragging this out over a three month trial with dozens of witnesses.

“This isn’t just for my clients” Hisock told VOCM News. He says “they are taking all the risk, but they will not receive all the reward because much of that will go back to creditors who lost money.”

As for the students who lost money when the college closed, Hiscock says many of them filed documents at the time which means they too are listed as creditors and could potentially get money back if the Mastropietros win the case.