The University of Florida on Thursday asked the state Supreme Court for a rehearing after justices revived a class-action lawsuit that seeks to require UF to refund money to students for services that were not provided during a COVID-19 campus shutdown in 2020.
UF attorneys filed a 13-page motion asking justices to address a key issue about the waiver of sovereign immunity, which generally shields government agencies from liability. UF — and other universities facing similar lawsuits — have argued that they should not have to refund money to students because of sovereign immunity.
The Supreme Court on July 17, in a 5-2 decision, overturned a decision by the 1st District Court of Appeal that rejected the UF lawsuit, which involves fees that students paid for services such as transportation, health care and athletics.
The decision has potentially far-reaching implications because Florida appellate courts have issued a series of rulings rejecting similar lawsuits against schools including the University of Central Florida, Florida International University, Florida Atlantic University and Florida A&M University. Also, a similar case against the University of South Florida is pending in an appeals court.
ALSO READ: COVID-19 campus shutdown case involving the University of Florida gets go-ahead
In arguing the need for a rehearing Thursday, UF attorneys, in part, said cases “similar to this one from nearly all district courts of appeal currently pend before this (Supreme) Court or in the district courts of appeal.”
A panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal in 2022 said an Alachua County circuit judge should have dismissed the UF lawsuit because of sovereign immunity.
But sovereign immunity does not apply in breach-of-contract lawsuits, and the Supreme Court said the appeals court did not properly consider “permissible implied covenants” in agreements between the university and students. It also said the appeals-court ruling would have imposed a requirement for “extraordinary specificity in government contracts.”
The opinion did not determine whether the named plaintiff in the case, Anthony Rojas, and other people who were students at the time of the UF campus shutdown should receive refunds. It also didn’t foreclose the possibility that sovereign immunity could apply in the case but said that issue is “subject to further litigation.”
In seeking a rehearing, UF attorneys focused on a state law about university system fees and urged the court to address “the scope of any sovereign immunity waiver authorization” under that law. The request said the Supreme Court declined to address the scope issue in its July 17 ruling.
Numerous similar lawsuits were filed across the country after campuses shut down and students were forced to take classes remotely in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Florida cases do not seek refunds of tuition.
