A college is facing a class-action lawsuit for allegedly failing to provide the in-person education it promised to students during the Spring 2020 semester. Plaintiff Miles Wilkie filed the complaint against Wagner College in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York on August 22, 2024.
The lawsuit stems from Wagner College's decision to transition to online-only classes and cancel on-campus activities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Wilkie, an undergraduate student at Wagner during the Spring 2020 semester, he and other students paid tuition and fees for an in-person educational experience that was abruptly cut short.
"Despite the harsh reality that students could no longer enjoy the benefit of the bargain for which they pre-paid, Wagner refused to provide a prorated refund of tuition or fees tied to its on-campus education, services, and amenities," reads the complaint.
Wilkie claims that by not offering refunds for services not rendered, Wagner breached its contracts with students or was otherwise unjustly enriched. The plaintiff does not challenge Wagner's adherence to health guidelines but rather its decision to retain full tuition and fees despite shifting entirely to remote learning mid-semester.
The lawsuit seeks damages and restitution for all affected students, demanding prorated refunds of tuition and fees paid for services not received. Specifically, Wilkie is asking for disgorgement of unused amounts of fees paid by students as well as partial prorated tuition reimbursement representing the difference between the on-campus experience promised and the online product delivered.
Representing Wilkie are attorneys Michael A. Tompkins and Anthony Alesandro from Leeds Brown Law, P.C., along with Gary F. Lynch and Nicholas A. Colella from Lynch Carpenter LLP. Case No. 1:24-cv-05898.