In a case filed in the Court of Appeal of the State of California, First Appellate District, Samantha Berlanga, Joseph Oliva, Jasmine Moore, and Amber Kaiser are suing the University of San Francisco (USF) for breach of contract during the COVID-19 pandemic. The lawsuit, identified as case ID A165976; A166231 and dated February 29th, 2024, alleges that USF failed to deliver promised in-person instruction and should refund a portion of their tuition payments.
The plaintiffs were undergraduate students at USF during the spring 2020 semester. They argue that after Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in response to COVID-19 on March 4th, 2020, USF transitioned to remote learning despite promises for in-person instruction. The defendant responded by stating they were prohibited by law from holding large in-person gatherings due to health concerns.
The plaintiffs claim that USF has not delivered the educational services for which they paid due to this transition. They argue that through their admission agreement and payment of tuition and fees, they entered into a binding contract with USF which was subsequently breached when the university failed to provide promised services.