COVID Shutting Down Campuses - Likely Face Law Suits

WASHINGTON - Dec. 16, 2021 - PRLog -- Surges in COVID, and increasing panic about Omicron, are causing an ever growing number of colleges and universities to react by cancelling in-person activities, moving exams online, urging students to leave campus, moving some spring semester classes online, and even suggesting remote learning for part of 2021.

So far this rapidly growing list includes Princeton, Cornell, Middlebury, Tulane, New York, George Washington, and Syracuse  universities.

But having students move off campus has led to many law suits in which students successfully recovered money they had already paid for housing, food service, library and other fees, warns public interest law professor John Banzhaf.

As just one recent example, he notes that students brought a putative class action law suit against Columbia University because of its coronavirus-spurred campus closures, and the Ivy League giant agreed to pay $12.5 million to settle the suit in late November.

In this case the judge allowed the students to sue for fees they had paid for services never received while the campus was largely emptied of students, but not for a partial refund of tuition for having to take classes over the Internet.

But, as Banzhaf reported months ago in an analysis entitled "Students Forced Onto Zoom U Can Sue for Refunds" which followed from his encouragement of such class actions, many courts have handed down tuition rulings in favor of students forced to accept on-line instruction.

As one judge pointedly put it in ruling for the students, "This is kind of like purchasing a Cadillac at full price and receiving an Oldsmobile. Although both are fine vehicles, surely it is no consolation to the Cadillac buyer that the 'Olds' can also go from Point A to Point B."

Similar rulings were also handed down in cases involving, among others, Boston University, Barry University, Florida S. College, University of Michigan, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Ohio State University, Western Michigan University, University of Michigan, Ball State University, University of Toledo, Kent State University, and Ohio University.

So universities considering curtailing activities because of COVID may now have to balance shortfalls in revenue from tuition, services, and fees against subsequent class action law suits for some or even all of that money, predicts Banzhaf.

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