McKendree University student Kaitlin Pennington voluntarily dismissed her claims against the college, alleging students were deprived of the full on-campus services due to COVID-19 closures.
Attorney Daniel Levy of Goldenberg Heller Antognoli PC in Edwardsville filed the stipulation for dismissal on behalf of Pennington on May 20. U.S. District Judge Staci Yandle dismissed the claims the following day. Plaintiff Kelsey Delisle’s case against the university remains pending.
On April 10, the plaintiff filed a motion for leave to amend the complaint to add Riley Ponce as a plaintiff. Ponce was an undergraduate in-person student during the Spring 2020 semester at McKendree University.
The motion states that the plaintiffs “jointly assert a right to relief with respect to the same transactions, occurrences, and/or series of transactions or occurrences, based on defendant’s failure to issue appropriate reimbursements for plaintiffs and putative class members for tuition and student fees where defendant closed its campuses during the 2020 Spring Semester and did not provide benefits and services for which plaintiffs and putative class members paid. Moreover, courts often let multiple named plaintiffs join together in a class action where they seek to bring claims against the defendant for the same or similar conduct.”
A motion hearing is set for June 6 at 9:30 a.m. In her order setting the hearing, Yandle provided details for the press and general public to access the hearing remotely, citing COVID-19 for limited in person access.
“In light of the public crisis due to the COVID-19 virus, the court finds that full access to the press and public cannot be afforded for this hearing,” she wrote. “Other alternatives were considered, but at this time the court only has the technological capability to allow access by teleconference.”
The complaint was originally filed in St. Clair County on Sept. 9, 2020. McKendree University removed the case to federal court on Oct. 12, 2020. The complaint was dismissed on Sept. 27, 2021, which was later reversed by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals on July 12, 2023.
According to the complaint, Delisle was an undergraduate student and Pennington was a graduate student at McKendree during the Spring 2020 semester. The university announced that in-person courses would be suspended beginning March 16, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Then in an April 2 announcement, the school suspended student activities on campus and closed the library. Additionally, university offices and facilities were operated remotely.
The suit states that the students received reduced value from student fees and room and board. It adds that the students have not been refunded any part of their tuition, fees or housing costs despite the suspended services.
“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,” the suit states.
The suit states that “in-person students pay tuition for the full campus experience.”
“Yet when all that is provided are online courses that must be attended away from campus, students do not receive their bargained for in-person experience, including face-to-face interaction with professors and peers, access to computer labs, libraries, and laboratories, and on-campus activities and organizations,” the suit states.
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.
The plaintiffs also allege that the accounts of students who lived on campus reflect a partial housing refund, but no refund had been issued when the complaint was filed.
The suit states that McKendree has been unjustly enriched by retaining the students’ fees and tuition costs without providing complete services and experiences.
The plaintiffs seek class certification for all “students at McKendree University who did not receive the in-person educational experience that they paid for during part of the 2020 Spring Semester as a result of McKendree’s effective closing of its campuses and its switching to online instruction due to risks associated with the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19).”
The class seeks actual damages, punitive damages, injunctive relief, pre- and post-judgment interest, attorneys’ fees and costs.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois 3:20-cv-1073