Qureshi, et al. v. American University

Your legal rights are affected whether you act or don’t act. Read this website and the Notice carefully.

On May 1, 2020, a class action Complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Case No. 1:20-cv-01141-CRC, against American University (“AU”).

The lawsuit alleges that students who attended AU during the Spring 2020 Semester are entitled to partial refunds of tuition and fees because AU transitioned to remote instruction in March 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic in accordance with legal mandates. AU denies each and every allegation of wrongdoing, liability, and damages asserted via the claims in the lawsuit, and AU denies that the claims in the lawsuit would be appropriate for class treatment if the litigation proceeded through trial.

The proposed settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing by AU, and AU denies all allegations of wrongdoing and disclaims all liability with regard to all claims in the lawsuit.

You are a member of the Settlement Class if you were an AU undergraduate student enrolled during the Spring 2020 Semester for whom any amount of tuition and fees were paid from any source other than a scholarship/grant from AU whose tuition and fees have not been refunded in their entirety and who is not excluded from the Settlement Class.

Your Legal Rights and Options in This Lawsuit

Change Your Payment Options	By using the Election Form, students in the Settlement Class may provide an updated mailing address for sending a check, or elect to receive the Cash Award by Venmo or PayPal instead of a paper check. The deadline to file your Election Form is April 1, 2024.
Exclude Yourself	You will not receive your Cash Award, but you will retain any rights you may have to sue AU about the issues in this case. The deadline to exclude yourself is April 1, 2024.
Object	Write to the Court explaining why you don’t like the Settlement. If the Court approves the Settlement, you will be bound by the Court’s decision and the Settlement Agreement. The deadline to object to the Settlement is April 1, 2024.
Attend a Hearing	Ask to speak in Court about the fairness of the Settlement during the Final Approval Hearing on May 7, 2024.
Do Nothing	Settlement Class Members who do nothing will automatically receive a payment by check to the last known mailing address as reflected in AU’s records after the Effective Date of the Settlement Agreement. You will give up any rights you may have to sue AU about the issues in this case.

These rights and options—and the deadlines to exercise them—are explained further in the Notice and on the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page of this website. For complete details, please see the Settlement Agreement, which is available here.