The lawsuit, filed in Fulton County Superior Court Thursday, seeks a jury trial and damages. The students of the Marietta university have suffered emotionally and financially because the university trustees and former president Sid Williams were negligent in losing chiropractic accreditation, said the group's Roswell attorney, Joseph Hoffman.

"They've been negligent in their duties," Hoffman said. "They misled and misinformed the students."

Will Hurst, a spokesman for the university, declined to comment.

The number of students participating in the lawsuit is expected to grow to more than 100, Hoffman said.

If a judge grants class-action status, additional students could participate in the lawsuit.

The university lost accreditation of its largest degree program, the doctor of chiropractic, on Oct. 20. Without program acreditation, graduates of chiropractic schools cannot get a license to practice in most states.

As in other lawsuits filed in recent weeks by students, the Fulton County case argues that Life administrators broke a contract with students to provide an accredited chiropractic education.

The lawsuit was filed in Fulton County, where some of the trustees live, because the Cobb County courts may show favoritism to the university, Hoffman said.