Judge Ruiz holds Covid-19 Pandemic "Immunity Statute" Unconstitutional

By John R. Byrne

If you practice civil law in this district, you're probably aware of the wave of Covid 19-related litigation out there, with parties using the pandemic as both a sword and a shield.  One active area has been lawsuits against universities.  So active that the Florida legislature passed--and Governor DeSantis signed--the Florida Immunity Statute for Educational Institutions for Actions Related to the Covid-19 Pandemic.  The statute does what it sounds like it does, giving universities a legal pass for doing things like shifting in-person instruction online during the pandemic.  

But Judge Ruiz dealt a likely fatal blow to the statute yesterday.  In Ferretti v. Nova Southeastern University, Inc., Case No. 20-61431-CV-RAR, he held that the statute was unconstitutional.  Citing Supreme Court precedent, he noted that a cause of action is effectively a piece of property. By retroactively abolishing an accrued cause of action, the reasoning goes, the statute violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.  The order is an interesting (and quick) read.