CCL President Robert S. Peck urged a Florida appeals court to affirm a trial court's ruling that the University of Florida and its board do not receive sovereign immunity when it overcharged prospective students for their college applications and subsequent orientation.

      The case, a putative class action, relied on a Florida statute that set the maximum fees that state universities can charge for applications at five dollars and for orientation of accepted students at thirty dollars. Without seeking legislative permission to charge more, the University of Florida passed along a vendor's additional five-dollar fee to applicants, while charging seventy-five dollars for orientation. The plaintiffs sued on theories of conversion and negligent misrepresentation. A trial court denied the university's motion to dismiss based on sovereign immunity, and the defendants then appealed.

      During oral argument, one judge pressed the issue of whether the statutory waiver of immunity's reference to "loss of property" could include money collected by an illegal overcharge. That appeared to be the primary issue for the Court. Peck responded by explaining a wide variety of precedents where money was treated as property. The case is now under advisement, with a decision expected sometime in the next few months.