The Texas Supreme Court will now decide whether college students got their money-worth from online classes during the pandemic.
Luke Hogan, an SMU Business Management graduate, wants a refund for part of his tuition, saying he did not get what he paid for.
Hogan says the in-person classes he paid for were replaced by online learning when all universities and schools were forced to shut down. Online classes which he did not want.
This is a class action case that's before the US 5th Circuit Court which has asked the Texas Supreme Court to clarify a COVID-era law.
After Hogan graduated and after he filed his lawsuit the Texas Legislature passed a law that retroactively barred Hogan from collecting any damages.
Attorney Philip Furia says you can't do that.
"In this case, we do have fees that were paid for laboratories and libraries and they weren't actually available to the people who paid for them," said Furia.
Scott Barnard, who argued on behalf of a number of Universities including SMU and Baylor, said Hogan got what he paid for, an education.
"Is there something else to get back or did SMU comply with what the agreement was - which is that we educated you, we gave you a degree, you learned what you were supposed to and there is no requirement, no express contractual promise for in-person learning," said Barnard.
The court's decision will be critical to how the 5th Circuit decides this COVID-Class action suit.
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