Legal Question in Consumer Law in Pennsylvania

Re: Arbitration - limits on damage awards?

Your questions are impossible to answer, so let me explain why.

First, you're asking for specific legal advice about an actual case which is already in suit, it appears. If you have an attorney, that person should be advising you about the potential damages.

If you are representing yourselves, you really can't expect attorneys to risk their livelihood by giving advice which might very well be incorrect for your particular situation. Lawyers probably give away more of their services than any other trade or profession, but we can't do it all the time.

Let me point out some of the problems -- but please understand that this is NOT an invitation to provide the details. I don't practice education or business law so your case is not something I would get involved in on a fee basis.

Arbitration: there are many types of arbitration. If it's court-annexed arbitration, there is a dollar limit (the amount depends on which county you're in): but if the claim exceeds that limit, it shouldn't go into arbitration in the first place.

If it's arbitration under a contract, the available damages depend on what the contract says, not so much the fact that it's in arbitration.

Normally, "pain and suffering" damages are not available for breach of contract, but only financial losses. If you have a negligence claim, maybe you can, but "educational malpractice" is a very fuzzy area of the law.

If the arbitration is something that's required by the school's contract, the contract also probably says somethign about damages. The ONLY way a lawyer can give any meaningful advice is to take the time to review all the fine print, research and apply the controlling law, and evaluate the facts. If you want meaningful advice, you have to hire a lawyer to do that. Any shortcuts are likely to do more harm than good.