PITTSBURGH — According to court documents filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh has reached a settlement for a class action lawsuit that was originally filed in 2020.
The suit, which has five named plaintiffs, was filed following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic during the spring 2020 semester. According to court documents, the plaintiffs were suing on the grounds that by moving all instruction to a remote format in response to the start of the pandemic in mid-March 2020, and by closing all campus recreational facilities, the university was breaching its contract with students, who had paid tuition and fees for their “on-campus, in-person educational program” for the entirety of the 2020 spring semester.
The settlement reached by the university and the plaintiffs totals $7.85 million, to be paid out to the Settlement Class, made up of “all students who were enrolled in at least one in-person course(s) during the Spring 2020 semester at the university and any of its branch locations but had their course(s) moved to remote learning as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.” Those awards will be given, either automatically via last known mailing address or by students updating their mailing address or opting for payment via Venmo or PayPal on a dedicated Settlement Website, once the notice and administration fees, including taxes, are taken out of the settlement amount.
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