Emily Sortor  |  October 17, 2019

Category: Education

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california university college studentsStudents of University of California schools have filed a class action lawsuit against The Regents of the University of California, challenging the system’s allegedly exorbitant late charges for registration for classes, housing, and delinquent accounts.

The University of California late fee class action lawsuit was filed by Jonathan Recinos, Hans Yu, Robin Heinonen, Haree Akkala, Neelansh Jain, and Daniel Roizen. The plaintiffs are students or recent graduates who say that they were required to pay late fees at least once during their time at the various state universities that ranged from $25 to $110.

The students claim that the late fees charged at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Merced, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, US San Francisco, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Santa Cruz are exorbitantly high.

According to the students, they have suffered financial injury as a result of the university system’s fees. The students claim that the university system intentionally charges exorbitant fees to increase its profits.

The UC fees class action lawsuit says that the school system did not make an effort to make the fees fair, and did not negotiate with students about the amount charged in late fees. Allegedly, the fees are unfair in such a way that they violate the California Civil Code and the Consumer Legal Remedies Act. 

The California universities late fee class action lawsuit claims that the fees charged are “not a reasonable measure or approximation” of any damages that the university system might have suffered because of a student’s late registration.

Additionally, the students then claim that California Civil code says that liquidating damages for the breach of the contract is not permissible unless the parties involved can agree upon an amount that represents the damage done by breaching the contract.

The students allege that the late fees represent fees charged if a contract is broken, as the “contract” in question is the registration deadline for various services at the universities including housing, classes, and other services.

The students say that if the universities had suffered because of the breach of contract, it would not be hard to determine how much, but the universities have not attempted to do so, so the fees charged are unlawful.

Allegedly, the university system presents the fees in a “take it or leave it” system to students without giving the students a chance to negotiate any terms or conditions.

The UC late fee class action lawsuit seeks damages on behalf of the named students and all other similarly affected individuals. The university class action lawsuit also aims for the universities to be forced to disgorge all revenues gained from the  improper fees, and to cease charging them.

Were you charged a late fee that you believed was unfair? Share your experiences in the comments below.

The students are represented by L. Timothy Fisher, Joel D. Smith, Yeremey O. Krivoshey, and Scott A. Bursor of Bursor & Fisher PA.

The UC System Unfair Late Fees Class Action Lawsuit is Jonathan Recinos, et al. v. The Regents of the University of California, Case No. RG19038659, in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Alameda.

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One thought on California Universities Charge Pricey Late Fees, Class Action Says

  1. Sarah Kang says:

    Yes, I’m a parent of a student at UCSC and I believe the late fees are charged in an extremely unreasonable unethical way. They don’t give a student a fair chance at making payments; just recently the school retroactively charged tuition from September and I didn’t know about it, and charged the late fee! They posted the due amount in December! None of it makes sense. Most importantly, this system is a disservice to low income families. I have more to say on the matter and would like to join the lawsuit.

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