A federal judge has overturned a $280-million jury verdict against the Apollo Group in a shareholder lawsuit. The jury decided in January that the company had misled investors. In an order issued this week, however, Judge James A. Teilborg of the U.S. District Court for Arizona ruled that as a matter of law, the company was not responsible for their stock losses.

The case stems from the 2004 release of a U.S. Department of Education report and subsequent publicity about aggressive recruiting tactics undertaken by the University of Phoenix, a subsidiary of the Apollo Group. Five days after the department’s findings became public, a Wall Street stock analyst, Kelly Flynn, published her own reports assessing the case, sending the stock price down.

Investors who had held the company’s stock sued the Apollo Group, alleging that it had misled them by not disclosing information about the department’s review in a timely way. The company had maintained that the department’s report was inaccurate.

In his ruling, Judge Teilborg states that the Apollo Group “misled the market in various ways” concerning the report, but adds that the investors failed to prove under the law that the company’s actions caused them harm. He agreed with Apollo’s argument that Ms. Flynn’s reports did not include information that was not already public. The investors have said they plan to appeal. —Goldie Blumenstyk