BENTON – McKendree University didn’t breach a contract with students when it closed the campus last year, U.S. District Judge Staci Yandle ruled on Sept. 27.
Yandle dismissed a class action complaint that Kelsey Delisle and Kaitlin Pennington filed last September.
She found McKendree’s catalogs and website didn’t contain an explicit promise of services in person.
“Rather, they paint a picture of the experience students may expect to gain at McKendree,” she wrote.
Attorneys Richard Cornfeld of St. Louis and Daniel Levy of his firm filed the complaint last September, in St. Clair County circuit court.
They sought to certify Delisle and Pennington as representatives for all students who paid in whole or in part for the spring 2020 semester.
McKendree announced that in-person courses would be suspended beginning March 16. In an April 2 announcement, the school suspended student activities on campus. University offices and facilities were operated remotely.
Cornfeld argues that the students received reduced value from student fees and room and board. He adds that the students have not been refunded any part of their tuition, fees or housing costs.
“Plaintiffs do not challenge Defendant’s decision to effectively close its campus and transition to online-only classes because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the effect of this decision was that Plaintiffs and Class Members were deprived of the many benefits of the full in-person services for which they paid,” Cornfeld wrote.
According to the complaint, students paid mandatory fees, including a $100 graduation fee despite not having a graduation ceremony.
“After Defendant’s COVID-19 related restrictions and switch to online learning went into effect, Plaintiffs and Class Members either no longer received the benefit of these mandatory fees or they received a decreased benefit from them, because the fees are primarily associated with the on-campus services.
“Yet Defendant has not provided reimbursements for the unused portions of these mandatory fees,” the suit states.
McKendree removed the complaint to district court, claiming the amount in controversy exceeded a $5 million limit on class actions in state courts.
McKendree counsel Kyle Seelbach of St. Louis moved to dismiss the complaint in December, claiming Illinois bars educational malpractice claims.
“A student has a contract claim against a school only when she alleges an adverse decision was made arbitrarily, capriciously, and in bad faith,” Seelbach wrote.
“Plaintiffs do not allege that McKendree’s actions were motivated by anything other than health and safety concerns.”
Cornfeld responded that catalogs and handbooks explicitly stated that McKendree would provide services in person.
Yandle found the educational malpractice doctrine didn’t bar the claims, but she rejected the claims because she couldn’t find a breach of contract.
She found that website descriptions don’t guarantee the exact same experiences.
She found McKendree’s provision of services in person prior to the virus didn’t imply a contractual entitlement to the same location and manner.