The Ministry of Economy Trace and Industry and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government inspected Nova’s Osaka head office and several schools in February for allegedly charging high contract cancellation fees and on suspicion that it had given the government false information about its cancellation policy.
At that time, the government warned Nova it could be forbidden from enrolling new students if officials found clear evidence of more legal violations.
At least eight lawsuits have been filed against Nova to get the company to pay refunds, and the rulings have all favored the plaintiffs, according to the plaintiff’s lawyer in Tuesday’s case.
In one of the cases, a woman argued that the information Nova provided about its cancellation policy was insufficient, claiming it was written in tiny characters in hard-to-understand language in the contract.
