Shareholder Kansas Gooden recently filed an amicus brief in the Third District of Appeal on behalf of The Florida Defense Lawyers Association and is featured in a Florida Record article titled, “Appeals Court Orders Dismissal of Class Action Over Miami Dade College’s Online Instruction,” published on April 21, 2022. Ms. Gooden is currently the President of the FDLA and serves as the chair of the organization’s Amicus Committee.

The article highlights a recent decision by the Third District of Appeal to overturn a lower court order that denied Miami Dade College’s motion to dismiss student Fernando Verdini’s lawsuit seeking to recover mandatory student fees after the college switched to remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article states:

The Third District of Appeal on April 13 overturned a lower court opinion that denied MDC’s motion to dismiss nursing student Fernando Verdini’s lawsuit. The college had argued that the doctrine of sovereign immunity protects government entities such as public colleges from being sued unless the plaintiff can demonstrate the existence of a formal contract.

“Because … Fernando Verdini has not alleged breach of an express, written contract to provide on-campus or in-person services sufficient to overcome sovereign immunity, we reverse,” the appeals court opinion states.

MDC was responding to a March 2020 order from the Florida Department of Education to public colleges and universities when it transitioned from in-person to remote learning during part of the spring semester and the entire summer semester, according to the ruling.

The Florida Defense Lawyers Association, which filed an amicus brief in the case, applauded the Third District’s opinion upholding the college’s sovereign immunity.

“As the court recognized, sovereign immunity is the rule, rather than the exception,” the association’s president, Kansas Gooden, told the Florida Record in an email. “We are hopeful that the other district courts of appeal will follow this well-reasoned opinion in the numerous other cases filed on this issue across the state.”

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But the Third District found Verdini failed to provide an express, written contract related to the fees in question. The court sent the case back to the Miami-Dade County Circuit Court with instructions to dismiss the lawsuit.

Other Florida courts have taken similar views of class actions seeking reimbursement for campus fees during transitions to online instruction at the onset of the pandemic. An Eighth District Judicial Circuit judge last month dismissed a Santa Fe College student’s lawsuit alleging she should be reimbursed for fees as a result of the switch to online instruction.

If you have any questions about these cases or would like to involve the FDLA in a case, please contact Kansas R. Gooden.

About Kansas R. Gooden

Kansas Gooden is Board Certified in Appellate Practice by The Florida Bar and is AV® Preeminent Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell. She serves as the firm’s Appellate Practice Group Leader. Kansas is an expert in handling all types of civil appellate proceedings, including extraordinary writs and plenary appeals, in state and federal courts.

Ms. Gooden is active in the Florida Bar’s Appellate Section. Over the past decade, she has served on the Executive Council and has chaired the CLE Committee. As chair, Ms. Gooden is responsible for creating and organizing the CLE programing for the section.

Ms. Gooden is on the board of the Florida Defense Lawyers Association as the President and serves as the chair of the organization’s Amicus Committee. On behalf of the organization, she authors and co-authors amicus briefs in important cases impacting tort, litigation, and insurance issues. She also serves on the board of directors of the Third District Court of Appeal Historical Society.

Ms. Gooden is a frequent speaker on appellate topics, including preservation of error, for both attorneys and adjusters. She is licensed in Florida (2008).