Students from two New York colleges — Columbia University and Pace University — will be allowed to go ahead with a class action lawsuit over remote classes in the wake of COVID-19 closures. But a judge pared back the scope of the suit.
U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman on Friday ruled that the two proposed class action lawsuits — brought by students who say their colleges didn’t adequately reimburse them for tuition, fees, and other costs they stopped providing due to the pandemic — could continue. The judge took issue with the idea that the students were promised in-person classes.
His order said the Columbia students didn’t point to any specific promise made by their school to provide exclusively in-person instruction, and that references to the school’s “on-campus experience” in marketing materials weren’t sufficient to support a claim.
As the novel coronavirus swept through New York last year, many colleges closed their campuses, moved their students out of dormitories, and transitioned classes to online to meet safety requirements. Some are now facing lawsuits due to the amount they decided to reimburse students.
Pace student and plaintiff Xaviera Marbury said she was only reimbursed for roughly 20% of her housing payments after she moved off campus, Law360 reported.
“This refund is arbitrary and inadequate given that plaintiff and other members of the on-campus housing class have been and will be deprived of roughly 50% of the on-campus housing time for which they have already bargained and paid,” her lawsuit stated.
The Columbia students, Chris Riotta, Lisa Guerra, Alexandra Taylor-Gutt, and an unnamed student, are suing Columbia’s board of trustees.
They said in their lawsuit that, while transitioning to online classes was the “right thing to do,” it deprived them of the benefits of in-person instruction, access to campus facilities, student activities, and other benefits and services they already paid for.
Both Columbia and Pace argued the cases should be tossed out entirely, with Columbia moving to dismiss and Pace requesting judgment on the pleadings, reported Law360.
Judge Furman granted in part and denied in part the students’ requests.
He said the students had “plausibly” alleged that their colleges violated “specific contractual promises” for certain services or access. However, he added that “to the extent that they fail to identify such promises, their claims must be and are dismissed.”
A Pace website statement indicating that on-campus courses would be “taught with only traditional in-person, on-campus class meetings,” could “plausibly” be a breach of promise, noted the order.
The Columbia and Pace students also sufficiently alleged the universities breached contractual obligations to provide access to certain campus facilities and activities in exchange for student fees, the judge said.
But claims around moving out of Pace’s residential halls must be dismissed because the student appeared to have left her dorm voluntarily, he said
The cases haven’t been formally consolidated, but the judge said he was addressing the universities’ motions to dismiss together because they raised similar issues.
Meanwhile, two U.S. universities recently beat students’ class action lawsuits that tuition fees should be refunded since they paid for terms that were moved online due to COVID-19.
Loyola 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.
Are you a Florida college student who was not refunded for fees you paid after schools closed due to the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns? If so, you may be eligible to join a class action lawsuit seeking reimbursement for certain school fees.
The students in the Columbia and Pace cases are represented by Edward Toptani of Toptani Law PLLC and Eric M. Poulin and Roy T. Willey of Anastopoulo Law Firm LLC. Marbury is also represented by John M. Bradham and Peter B. Katzman of Morea Schwartz Bradham Friedman & Brown LLP.
The University Campus COVID-19 Tuition Class Action Lawsuits are In re: Columbia Tuition Refund Action, Case No. 1:20-cv-03208, and Marbury v. Pace University, Case No. 1:20-cv-03210, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
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