United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit

____________ FILED June 20, 2024 No. 23-40425 Lyle W. Cayce ____________ Clerk Jennifer Sugg,

Plaintiff—Appellant,

versus Midwestern University; EmergencHealth P.L.L.C.,

Defendants—Appellees. ______________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas USDC No. 2:20-CV-274 ______________________________ Before Smith, Wiener, and Douglas, Circuit Judges. Jacques L. Wiener, Jr., Circuit Judge: Plaintiff-Appellant Jenn Sugg was dismissed from her Certified Registered Nurse Anesthesiology (“CRNA”) program after she failed several required courses. She sued Defendants-Appellees Midwestern University and EmergencHealth (“EH”) for, inter alia, breach of contract and fraud. Sugg appeals the summary judgment in favor of Defendants- Appellees on all causes of action. We AFFIRM. Case: 23-40425 Document: 86-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 06/20/2024

No. 23-40425

I. Facts and Proceedings Midwestern’s CRNA program trains registered nurses in anesthesiology. Under the program’s guidelines, students must pass all required courses and maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.750 or higher. A course failure in a clinical class results in remediation and repeat of the rotation. Midwestern’s student handbook states that “two or more course failures will typically result in dismissal.” Further, “[i]f a student passes a repeated course, the original failure remains on the transcript as an ‘F’ grade and is included in the total number of accumulated failures in the student’s academic record.” Sugg enrolled in Midwestern’s CRNA program in 2016. In her first semester, she failed Human Anatomy & Embryology and earned a grade point average of only 1.437. Midwestern’s Academic Review Committee (“ARC”) concluded that Sugg should be placed on an academic leave of absence for the Spring 2017 quarter and retake Anatomy during Summer 2017. Sugg was informed that “additional course failures and/or quarters below the minimum GPA may result in dismissal from the Nurse Anesthesia Program.” Sugg was also advised of her opportunity to appeal Midwestern’s grading and suspension decisions, but she declined to do so. She retook Anatomy in Summer 2017 and received a “B-minus.” Going into the Fall 2017 quarter, Sugg was placed on academic probation because of her low GPA. In Summer 2018, Sugg participated in her first clinical rotation course (“CR I”). It was held at San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, New Mexico. Sugg was overseen by Midwestern faculty member Brian Estavillo. The daily written evaluations she received were generally positive. However, the Medical Center ultimately asked Midwestern to remove Sugg because of her lack of critical thinking skills, which was putting patient safety

2 Case: 23-40425 Document: 86-1 Page: 3 Date Filed: 06/20/2024

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at risk. Midwestern issued Sugg an “F” in CR I. The ARC then unanimously agreed that Sugg should be dismissed pursuant to the program’s “two course failures constitutes dismissal” policy. Sugg appealed that decision to Midwestern’s Promotion and Graduation Committee, which overturned the dismiss