Music to the Plaintiff’s Ears
May 3, 2013Natalie Holmes, a graduate student at SMU, has taken and failed twice the graduate comprehensive exam (“GCE”)–which she needed to pass to receive her Master’s Degree in Music Education. After both tests, Holmes appealed the results to SMU’s internal academic appeals board as either “arbitrary and capricious” or “beyond the scope of the coursework.” SMU offered Holmes the chance to re-take the exam a third time, but Holmes refused and instead insisted that SMU giver her the degree as well as monetary damages. While her second appeal remained pending, Holmes sued SMU for breach of contract, fraud and DTPA violations. SMU moved to dismiss the case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, arguing that Holmes had failed to exhaust her administrative appeal rights before bringing suit. The trial court agreed with SMU and dismissed the case.
The Court of Appeals, however, reversed the trial court, finding that SMU had failed to submit any evidence to establish that Holmes was required to proceed through an administrative appeal before bringing suit. According to the Court, SMU’s only evidence was a “short and conclusory” affidavit that did not address the appeals process, and this was not enough to establish that the trial court lacked jurisdiction.
