State sues massage-school owner

A Connecticut massage-school owner, who caused a stir in the massage community four years ago for suing the Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation (COMTA), is now the subject of a lawsuit by Connecticut’s attorney general.

The state filed its suit in December against Jim and Sandra Lattanzio, owners of the Galen Institute, for: falsely advertising that their school was accredited; charging interest on student loans above the state’s maximum limit; failing to pay into a state fund that reimburses students’ tuition if their trade school closes unexpectedly; and offering online training in violation of state regulations.

The school, which opened in 1998, operated four campuses and offered a 600-hour medical-massage program and a 1,035-hour program for therapists planning to practice in New York. In October the Department of Higher Education was notified of the school’s closure.

According to the office of Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Galen Institute was notified in June 2004 that because it failed to obtain accreditation by a U.S. Department of Education-recognized agency, its students were no longer qualified for Connecticut’s massage-therapy licensing exam.

Galen students, however, apparently did not know. Recent questions about the school’s accrediting status came up when students who paid the $9,600 tuition discovered they were not eligible for state licensing, and were instead left strapped with high-interest loans they believed were standard student loans. The attorney general’s office in December had received more than 125 complaints against the school.

The state is seeking more than $1 million plus additional penalties and profits from the school to refund student tuitions.

Lattanzio, meanwhile, claimed that the Council Overseeing Medical and Massage Therapy Accreditation—an agency the attorney general now charges was created as a ruse—accredited the school.

“After failing to attain proper accreditation, Galen invented its own accrediting organization, which it named the Council Overseeing Medical and Massage Therapy Accreditation (COMMTA), a self-serving, deceptive means to circumvent the law,” a statement from Blumenthal’s office said.

Although Mr. Lattanzio did not return calls by MASSAGE Magazine for this story, he maintained his innocence in other news reports, telling reporters that he believed the lawsuit was a vendetta for firing an acquaintance of the state’s higher education commissioner.

“The state has decided to destroy me and my family, and I have decided to fight back,” he told the Hartford Courant.

In January a defiant notice posted on the Galen Institute Web site declared, “Galen will seek Federal Court Order to GAG [Attorney General] BLUMENTHAL [sic] and make him pay.”

Lattanzio is no stranger to the courts. In 2002 he launched a highly publicized lawsuit against COMTA for what he claimed was negligence and breach of contract during the Galen Institute’s accreditation process, after it became clear that the school failed to win accreditation. The lawsuit later named AMTA as a defendant.

Concurrently, Lattanzio and Chris Folkers, of Olathe, Kansas, created COMMTA. When COMTA and AMTA requested they change the name as to not infringe on COMTA’s name and trademark, Folkers responded with a lawsuit against both organizations, alleging fraud, defamation, violation of antitrust and trade acts, and conspiracy. This suit was dismissed in 2004 by a Kansas district court judge.

At the time, numerous attempts by MASSAGE Magazine to reach both Lattanzio and Folkers to determine their relationship and the nature and extent of their lawsuits went unreturned.

In January 2005 Galen filed another lawsuit against AMTA and COMTA, charging conspiracy, legal malpractice and gross negligence, according to court records. In April 2005, AMTA and COMTA sought an injunction against Lattanzio, revealing that the organizations had spent more than $300,000 in litigation because of Lattanzio’s promised “massive legal war.” In October 2005, the courts denied Lattanzio’s motion of dismissal of the case. As of press time, it was ongoing.

Court documents reveal that since 2000 Lattanzio has also sought legal action against a hospital, the Connecticut Department of Labor, the Connecticut Department of Education and a postal inspector. According to the Hartford Courant, Lattanzio also filed lawsuits last summer against a Connecticut television station and two former employees who had been interviewed by the station.

— Kelle Walsh