Lawyers for former Corinthian College students are asking a federal judge in San Francisco to increase the amount of sanctions the Department of Education must pay for violating a court order barring the collection of certain student loan payments.

Lawyers at Housing and Economic Rights Advocates in Oakland and the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School have asked U.S. District Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim of the Northern District of California to reconsider the $100,000 sanction order she issued in October. Kim in May issued an order putting a hold on all government collection on loans that were subject to "borrower defense" to repayment, or the contention that borrowers were defrauded by the for-profit school. The judge held Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the Education Department in contempt and sanctioned them in October for continuing to collect on loans despite her order. 

In court papers filed Monday, the plaintiffs lawyers contend that records provided by the government at the time of her October ruling were "grossly inaccurate." They contend that the government's representations that it had violated the order 16,000 times by seeking to collect from individuals covered by Kim's injunction was "off by almost 300%" and that the government has collected more than $21 million from individuals who are lawfully covered by the injunction since it went into place. 

"Defendants' ongoing noncompliance is unfortunate, disturbing, and harmful," wrote the plaintiffs lawyers. The filings did not specify what amount of sanctions the plaintiffs would find appropriate, but the lawyers did submit testimony from former Corinthian students who had become homeless or faced financial hardship after having wages and tax refunds garnished inappropriately by the government and making payments that fell under the injunction. 

"And in spite of the shocking information that the scope of Defendant's noncompliance was grossly understated, and that they continue to violate the injunction, Defendants do not exhibit contrition," the plaintiffs lawyers wrote. Plaintiffs claim that the Education Department has sought to "downplay and shift blame for the seriousness of their mistakes" by attributing the increase in the number of affected individuals to miscommunication with loan servicers and other "limited" issues. 

The plaintiffs lawyers also point out that DeVos has publicly characterized Kim's sanction order as "not appropriate." The government has appealed the injunction to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth. Lawyers at the DOJ who are representing the government in the case didn't respond to messages Monday. 

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