Cases & Developments

Opinion affirming-in-part, reversing-in-part, and remanding dismissal.  Plaintiffs, students at the University of Pittsburg and Temple University during March 2020, on behalf of themselves and putative classes, brought contract and unjust enrichment claims against the Universities after they ceased in-person instruction and closed campus facilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The district courts dismissed plaintiffs’ claims.  Consolidating the cases on appeal, the Third Circuit held, first, that the Universities’ Financial Responsibility Agreements functioned not as integrated contracts, but as promissory notes detailing only the students’ obligations.  It then held that plaintiffs’ references to university publications, a tradition of in-person instruction, and different marketing and pricing for online programs was sufficient to state an implied contract claim.  It similarly held that plaintiffs sufficiently pleaded contract claims as to all required fees except for Pitt’s housing and dining fees for students who had not moved out by April 3, 2020, which no plaintiff was alleged to have paid.  Turning to their unjust enrichment claims, the court held that whether the Universities profited or incurred unexpected costs is a factual question appropriately resolved at a later stage.  Finally, the court held that plaintiffs had also adequately pleaded damages, finding that it is sufficient that the fact of damages is cognizable and that at this stage there need not be  an objective methodology by which such damages could reasonably be calculated.