A federal judge won’t let North Central College dismiss a lawsuit from students who allege the school violated its contract by shifting to remote classes during the onset of the Covid pandemic in the spring of 2020.
U.S. District Judge John Kness issued an opinion Sept. 18 in Chicago preserving the claims of Alena Troia, who filed a December 2020 lawsuit seeking to represent a class of students at the Naperville school under allegations it breached a duty to provide in-person, on-campus instruction in exchange for tuition. The ruling follows a series of decisions in favor of students making similar claims against schools like Northwestern, McKendree and Loyola universities and the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Troia alleged undergraduates paid about $19,930 in tuition and $100 in mandatory student fees in the 2019-2020 academic year. According to Kness, Troia’s allegations are rooted in North Central’s website, marketing materials, admission letters, course catalogs and traditional operations. She alleged North Central should not have retained full tuition and fees when offering only “materially different” online classes, which have a “diminished value” relative to conventional offerings.
In arguing for dismissal, North Central said Troia’s claim amount to allegations of educational malpractice, which doesn’t have a basis in state law, and also that she failed to allege “the existence of an enforceable implied or express contract,” according to Kness. It also said pursuit of an alternative claim, unjust enrichment, is inappropriate because if there is a contract, that claim cannot survive.
“In the wake of the pandemic, courts across the country have grappled with claims similar to those presented in this case,” Kness wrote. “Judges in this district have uniformly rejected such claims.”
But in July 2022, a split panel of the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the ruling of U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman, who in 2021 dismissed student claims against Loyola University of Chicago.
“Contrary to the students’ position, these sources do not constitute an express contract for Loyola to provide in-person educational services,” Seventh Circuit Judge Candace Jackson-Akiwumi wrote for the majority. “But we agree with the students that, taken as a whole, these sources are sufficient to show an implied contract to provide in-person instruction and access to Loyola’s campus in exchange for tuition and certain mandatory fees.”
Kness rejected North Central’s argument concerning educational malpractice, noting Troia didn’t primarily challenge the quality of her remote education, but said making that the only option violated a contractual obligation to in-person classes. He explained Troia’s complaint echoes that of the Loyola students in alleging the existence of an implied contract.
In addition to promotional materials touting “state-of-the-art facilities updated with the latest technology and design,” Troia also pointed to course catalog and registration materials delineating between in-person and online classes, which signals the school understands a distinction exists. Kness noted Troia went further than the Loyola students by incorporating the text of her acceptance letter into her lawsuit.
According to Kness, the Loyola appellate ruling “explained plaintiffs made a pleading error where they erroneously incorporated by reference allegations of the existence of a contract between the parties. But for that error, however, the plaintiffs would have sufficiently pleaded an unjust enrichment claim in the alternative.”
Because the unjust enrichment claim does not make any reference to Troia’s breach of contract claim, only the underlying factual allegations, and because the parties dispute whether the school made any implied promises, Kness said, dismissal is improper.
Troia has been represented by attorneys Katrina Carroll, Kyle A. Shamberg, Kathleen Lally and Nicholas R. Lange, of Carlson Lynch, of Chicago.
North Central College has been represented by attorneys Monica H. Khetarpal, Kirsten A. Milton and Julia S. Wolf, of Jackson Lewis P.C., of Chicago.