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ARTICLE · 01 JUNE 2020

COVID-19 Higher Ed Litigation: The Educational Malpractice Doctrine Bars Students' Online Learning Claims

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Colleges and universities across the country fittingly closed their campuses in March to protect students, faculty, and staff amid the spread of coronavirus disease, COVID-19.

United StatesConsumer Protection
Charles Harris, II
Charles Harris, II
Brian Netter
Brian Netter
Colleen M. Campbell
Colleen M. Campbell
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Colleges and universities across the country fittingly closed their campuses in March to protect students, faculty, and staff amid the spread of coronavirus disease, COVID-19. Many of these schools promptly shifted to online instruction. Even so, some plaintiffs' attorneys have sought to capitalize on the pandemic by recruiting students to file a spate of class action lawsuits against the institutions. A key allegation in most of these copycat complaints is that students are entitled to a partial refund of tuition under a breach of contract theory because online instruction is inherently inferior to in-person instruction. But, as we explain in detail below, the doctrine of educational malpractice bars most claims that attack the quality of educational services. We also discuss how states have defined the nature of the student-university relationship and describe the students' breach of contract-related allegations that are founded on the schools' move to remote

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