University of Miami – Credit: YES Market Media/Shutterstock.com

Cultural norms often dictate that the college experience—with its dorms, clubs, sports and activities—is more than just taking classes and receiving a degree. It's a defining life journey. But do institutions of higher learning technically owe their students a so-called life experience? A wave of litigation sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic presents this question.

Since early April, dozens of class action lawsuits have been filed against universities and colleges on behalf of students who claim they are overpaying for tuition while receiving a lesser educational experience due to COVID-19 restrictions. Some of the most prestigious schools in the country have been swept up in this current wave of litigation and are turning to major law firms, including Cooley; Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe; Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.

The complaints argue that students are entitled to disgorgement of prorated tuition and fees equal to the amount of time that remained in the spring 2020 semester when classes switched to an online format and campus services stopped being provided.

A few prominent plaintiffs firms seem to be driving the litigation spree. Seattle-based Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro has filed on behalf of students at Brown, Vanderbilt, Duke, George Washington University and the University of Southern California. Bursor & Fisher has filed at least eight class actions, stepping in on behalf of students at Harvard, Cornell, Boston University and New York University among others. Berger Montague is also backing a handful of suits, including class actions against Northeastern University, DePaul University and USC.

Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman, said "the reasons for closures are justified," but the loss to students is still significant. "They did not enroll at these prestigious institutions to attend Zoom meetings and suffer through cancelled classes, lack of resources and no access to campus," Berman wrote in an emailed statement. "With these suits, we are seeking to make students whole in light of this unforeseen situation."

Some heavy hitters already have stepped in for the defense. Cooley is defending USC, while an Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe team has appeared for the Regents of the University of California.

Danielle Y. Conley, partner at Wilmer, has appeared for American University. Quinn Emanuel partner Shon Morgan, chair of the firm's national class action practice, has joined Duke's team. And litigation boutique Kaplan Hecker & Fink is backing Columbia University, where the firm's founding partner Roberta Kaplan received her law degree.

A motion to dismiss filed May 21 on behalf of the University of Miami provides a clue as to how arguments for the defense could be formulated. In Dimitryuk v. University of Miami, plaintiffs allege breach of contract, unjust enrichment and conversion.

The university's motion to dismiss, filed by Isicoff Ragatz and Nelson Mullins Broad and Cassel, attacks the complaint as an "improper shotgun pleading" in which "each count … adopts the allegations of all preceding counts." Therefore, the motion argues, "it is virtually impossible to know which allegations of fact are intended to support which claim(s) for relief."

The defense also argues that the plaintiff makes reference to an admission agreement, but fails to present a specific rule, policy or contractual term that was allegedly breached. "It is clear that plaintiff's claims are based on her allegation that virtual educational services are 'subpar' to in-person educational services. Such a claim simply does not exist under Florida law," the lawyers contend.

Christopher M. Yannuzzi of Isicoff Ragatz declined to comment.

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