Eggler v. University of West Florida

Opinion

FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL STATE OF FLORIDA

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No. 1D2025-1579

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EMMA EGGLER,

Appellant,

v.

UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORDA and UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA BOARD OF TRUSTEES,

Appellees.

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On appeal from the Circuit Court for Escambia County. Stephen A. Pitre, Judge.

July 15, 2026

PER CURIAM.

AFFIRMED. See § 1001.72(1), Fla. Stat. (2022) (providing that a university’s board of trustees “shall be a body corporate” with the powers “to sue and be sued”); see also Edwards v. Learfield Commc’ns, LLC, 697 F. Supp. 3d 1297, 1301 (N.D. Fla. 2023) (citing section 1001.72(1), Fla. Stat., and concluding that state university lacked the capacity to be sued); Souto v. Fla. Int’l Univ. Found., Inc., 446 F. Supp. 3d 983 (S.D. Fla. 2020) (explaining that the university’s board of trustees, not the university, was the proper entity to be named in lawsuits against the university under section 1001.72(1), Fla. Stat.).

ROWE, RAY, and NORDBY, JJ., concur.

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Not final until disposition of any timely and authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or 9.331.

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Jeanmarie Whalen of Alexander Shunnarah Injury Lawyers, West Palm Beach; and Bard D. Rockenbach of Burlington & Rockenbach, P.A., West Palm Beach, for Appellant.

Sheridan Weissenborn of Dutton Law Group P.A., Miami, for Appellees.