Universities Prevail On Technicality In First Ruling Testing Viability Of COVID-19 Room And Board Refund Class Actions

Seyfarth Synopsis: In the first ruling in response to the slew of room and board refund class actions filed in the wake of COVID-19, on July 29, 2020, in Rosenkrantz v. Arizona Board of Regents, No. 2:20-CV-01203 (D. Ariz.), Judge John Tuchi of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona granted the Universities' Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. Judge Tuchi held that Plaintiffs failed to comply with an Arizona statute that required them to file a notice of claim with a public entity prior to filing suit. The Court's ruling may prove useful for other colleges and universities sued in states with similar prerequisites. Because the ruling depends on a state-specific technicality, however, it is unlikely to quell the tide of similar class actions filed across the country.