DOVER, Del. - A class action lawsuit against the University of Delaware over its COVID era campus and in-person classes shutdown has been given the go-ahead by a federal judge. The lawsuit is on behalf of thousands of students who paid tuition in spring of 2020, some of whom accuse the University of breach of contract and unjust enrichment.
A hearing was scheduled for this week on the University’s request for the judge to rule in its favor without a trial, but has now been postponed indefinitely.
The plaintiffs seek partial refunds of their spring 2020 tuition, arguing that the University charged more for some in-person classes than they did for similar online classes prior to the pandemic, but did not adjust prices after in-person classes were canceled.
The University argued that the plaintiff’s lacked standing to sue and that knowing who paid tuition was impossible as some students may have used alternative sources such as scholarships. Judge Sephanos Bibas rejected both arguments.
“Those students, no less than students who paid out of their own pockets, were parties to a contract that U. Delaware allegedly breached,” the judge said in his ruling.
The judge’s ruling also noted that more than 17,000 undergraduates were enrolled in spring 2020, with the university collecting more than $160 million in tuition.