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HAMILTON — Retired Butler County Common Pleas Judge Matthew Crehan has approved a $177,500 settlement in a class action lawsuit filed in 2003 by former students of 5-Star Truck Driving School in Middletown.

The settlement was reached in April and approved for distribution of payments to about 200 victims on Friday, May 23.

The agreement calls for a $5,000 payments to be made to the three main plaintiffs as well as voiding of their student loan debts, and a 39 percent refund to people who made payments directly to the school or a financial institution for a loan to pay the fee.

Students alleged that the school falsely guaranteed to get them jobs that would pay off the high-interest loans for the Commercial Driver's License; used unqualified instructors and inadequate hours of instruction; and that a state CDL examiner pleaded guilty following a probe to falsifying test results, which led to the revocation of more than 200 CDLs of former students by the Ohio Department of Motor Vehicles.

Without admitting any wrongdoing, the lenders and driver's license test site agreed to settle the claims to end the cost and uncertainty of litigation, according to the release.

The case is scheduled to be dismissed on June 27 after payments are made.

The truck school, owned by the defunct Franklin Career Services LLC of Louisville, Ky., is not party to the settlement.

The former 5-Star students are represented by Equal Justice Foundation of Columbus and the Dayton ABLE office, which will administer the collection of forms and claim payment.

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