A Florida appeals court has rejected the basis of a class action lawsuit brought by a Miami Dade College (MDC) student who sought to recover mandatory student fees after the college switched to remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Third District of Appeal on April 13 overturned a lower court opinion that denied MDC’s motion to dismiss nursing student Fernando Verdini’s lawsuit. The college had argued that the doctrine of sovereign immunity protects government entities such as public colleges from being sued unless the plaintiff can demonstrate the existence of a formal contract.
“Because … Fernando Verdini has not alleged breach of an express, written contract to provide on-campus or in-person services sufficient to overcome sovereign immunity, we reverse,” the appeals court opinion states.
MDC was responding to a March 2020 order from the Florida Department of Education to public colleges and universities when it transitioned from in-person to remote learning during part of the spring semester and the entire summer semester, according to the ruling.
The Florida Defense Lawyers Association, which filed an amicus brief in the case, applauded the Third District’s opinion upholding the college’s sovereign immunity.
“As the court recognized, sovereign immunity is the rule, rather than the exception,” the association’s president, Kansas Gooden, told the Florida Record in an email. “We are hopeful that the other district courts of appeal will follow this well-reasoned opinion in the numerous other cases filed on this issue across the state.”
Verdini’s lawsuit argued that MDC breached a contract when it opted not to provide on-campus services supported by the fees during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. The fees mentioned included student services, financial aid, capital improvement and technology.
Verdini’s spring and summer invoices and a financial obligation agreement were included in the lawsuit, and a lower court found that his invoices and other records “sufficiently contain the express written terms and provide the specific services MDC was contractually obligated to provide in exchange for (the) plaintiff’s payment. …”
But the Third District found Verdini failed to provide an express, written contract related to the fees in question. The court sent the case back to the Miami-Dade County Circuit Court with instructions to dismiss the lawsuit.
Other Florida courts have taken similar views of class actions seeking reimbursement for campus fees during transitions to online instruction at the onset of the pandemic. An Eighth District Judicial Circuit judge last month dismissed a Santa Fe College student’s lawsuit alleging she should be reimbursed for fees as a result of the switch to online instruction.