Breach of Contract Accredited Program Nursing Program Unjust Enrichment
McCabe v. Marywood Univ., PICS Case No. 17-1231 (Pa. Super. July 18, 2017) Shogan, J. (13 pages).
Trial court properly sustained university's preliminary objections in appellant nursing student's action for damages after she transferred to another school because there was no breach of contract where nursing program was fully accredited at all relevant times and appellant was offered the opportunity that she claimed was contractually required, to graduate from a fully accredited nursing program. Affirmed.
Appellant entered appellee university as a nursing student in August 2011. In November 2011, students were told that university's accreditation with the Pennsylvania state board of nursing had been downgraded to "provisional" but that the status had no effect on the program's NLNAC accreditation status. In April 2013, NLNAC revoked the program's accreditation, the university told the students it had lost accreditation and timely appealed the revocation. In August 2104, the NLNAC restored the program's full accreditation. Appellant chose not to return to university in the fall of 2013 due to the conditional accreditation status and transferred to another school. In 2016, appellant sued university for damages, seeking the expenses incurred in transferring to another school and the loss of income and employment opportunities due to her delayed graduation. University filed preliminary objections which the trial court sustained and appellant appealed.
Appellant contended that university breached its contractual duty to provide a fully accredited nursing education. She asserted that university's website and literature contained the terms of an implied contract to provide her with the opportunity to graduate from a fully accredited nursing program in exchange for tuition payment. University argued that appellant failed to plead the elements for a breach of contract and that the program was accredited by the NLNAC at all relevant times, including when appellant voluntarily chose to transfer to another school. The trial court had found that appellant did not cite to pertinent contractual language to establish a duty to provide her with a fully accredited nursing program. The court agreed with the trial court's conclusion, but on a different basis.
The court found no breach of contract. Appellant enrolled in the nursing program in the fall of 2011. University was fully accredited at all relevant times and afforded appellant the opportunity to graduate from a fully accredited nursing program. Appellant did not assert that university's conditional or temporarily-revoked accreditation status prevented her from graduating from a fully accredited program.
Appellant also argued that trial court erred in finding that she did not suffer harm as the result of university's false and misleading representations about the accreditation of the nursing program. The court agreed with the trial court that appellant's harm resulted from her decision to transfer schools. Appellant's unjust enrichment claim also failed because she failed to demonstrate how university's retention of tuition for academic credits she earned qualified as unjust enrichment even though she lost credits when she voluntarily transferred to another school.