You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
A divided Florida appeals court rejected, by a 2-to-1 margin, a proposed class action against the University of Florida over student fees charged as the pandemic first took hold, The Tampa Bay Times reported.
Judge Rachel Nordby wrote that “assorted documents attached to the complaint do not constitute an express written contract.” She added, “We are sympathetic to [the plaintiff] and all other students whose on-campus experiences were clipped short and rendered non-existent by the university’s response to COVID-19 … And if there were a sufficient contract attached to his complaint, we would affirm the [decision of the] trial court [not to dismiss the case] without hesitation. But without such an express, written agreement … sovereign immunity bars the action.”
Judge Scott Makar dissented. Makar wrote that the “explicit language of the financial liability agreement, by itself, characterizes the relationship between the university and its students as an ‘agreement’ that must be construed in accordance with Florida law.”
