COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in Brooke Smith v. The Ohio State University. Smith, an Ohio State graduate, believes Ohio State should not be able to keep all of the tuition and fees students paid for the spring 2020 semester that switched to remote learning because of COVID-19.
"Paying for college is one of the most expensive things that a person pays for. Maybe the most expensive after a house,” said Joshua Arisohn, an attorney with Bursor & Fisher.
Arisohn is one of the attorneys representing Smith in this case. He said he’s also working on other cases similar to this one.
"We had students from around the country including the Ohio State University reach out to us about trying to get justice,” Arisohn said.
He is seeking justice for students who were sent home from campus and forced to take online courses as the world faced the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Universities like OSU did the best they could, but these students didn't get what they paid for. They paid for in person classes not online classes,” Arisohn said.
Arisohn said they’re asking for at least a partial refund to be paid to students.
"They also paid to access the beautiful OSU campus and all the facilities there and they didn't get any of that,” Arisohn said.
John Gall, who is representing Ohio State in this matter, urged the Supreme Court justices Tuesday to not let this case go any further.
"This is a health and safety issue. We've been here 3.5 years already. This court has it within its power to stop this. There is a fine legal basis and precedent from this court upon which this court could do so, and we urge this court to do that,” Gall stated.
Arisohn added he’s already won cases similar to this in other states and is confident they’ll win once again.
“I worked on a case against the University of Delaware that settled for $6.3 million,” Arisohn said.
10TV reached out to the university, but Benjamin Johnson, the school’s assistant vice president of media and public relations, said they can’t comment on pending litigation.
Arisohn said the justices will likely make a decision on this case in the next few months.