Jessy Edwards  |  March 24, 2021

Category: Covid-19

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Florida university must face college refund claims

A Florida student’s claims that he paid for access to on-campus services he didn’t receive when his university went online due to the pandemic can proceed, a federal judge has ruled.

On Tuesday, US District Judge Rodolfo A. Ruiz II reportedly denied Lynn University’s attempt to dismiss allegations in plaintiff Raymond Gibson’s proposed class action lawsuit. He said the lawsuit meets the requirements for class claims at this early stage of legal proceedings, despite the university’s opposition.

“The arguments Lynn advances are more appropriate for the class certification stage, at which point the court can consider them with the benefit of a more developed factual record,” he wrote in the order.

Gibson claims in his lawsuit that Lynn — a private university in Boca Raton — took its classes online in March 2020 for the entirety of the summer. He said it offered a partial refund for room and board, but did not offer any type of refund or credit for tuition or fees.

He is suing the college for breach of contract and is seeking to represent a class of fellow Florida residents who paid for on-campus education at Lynn University for the Spring 2020 term. 

He, like others in similar lawsuits against colleges that went online during the pandemic, pointed to school marketing materials that advertised an on-campus experience that went beyond the credits and degree offered. 

The university argued that it was under no contractual obligation or promise to provide any in-person education or services. Lynn also argued that university agreements with students explicitly state no refunds in the case of events outside of the institution’s control. 

Lynn University also argued Gibson’s claims were not suitable for a class action lawsuit because they relied on his individual circumstances. 

Judge Ruiz disagreed, ruling that throwing out the claims would be premature. The judge also concluded that determining the agreement made between Lynn and its students was capable of class treatment.

“It is not clear to the court from the pleadings that the nature of such a contractual relationship is not susceptible to class-wide proof based on the publications, policies, and other materials Lynn provided to its students,” he said.

Earlier this month, students from two New York colleges — Columbia University and Pace University — were told they could go ahead with a class action lawsuit over remote classes in the wake of COVID-19 closures.

But two other US universities recently beat students’ class action lawsuitsLoyola University in Chicago and New York’s Fordham University struck a win when a pair of courts concluded that statements made in course catalogs and advertisements were not enough to establish the plaintiffs’ claims that tuition fees should be refunded since they paid for terms that were moved online due to COVID-19.

Do you think colleges should have to refund students for tuition at all if classes went completely online? Let us know in the comments! 

Gibson is represented by Matthew Schultz of Levin Papantonio Thomas Mitchell Rafferty & Proctor PA. Lynn University is represented by Mendy Halberstam of Jackson Lewis PC.

The Lynn University Pandemic Tuition Refund Class Action Lawsuit is Gibson v. Lynn University Inc., Case No. 9:20-cv-81173, in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. 

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