EGGLER
v.
UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA, ET AL.

Fla. 1st DCA | 2026-07-15
No. 2025-1579
Pitre, J., Rowe, J., Ray, J., Nordby, J.
2026 FL 8875 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (2026)

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

The University of West Florida Board of Trustees is the proper entity to be sued in lawsuits against the university, as the board is the body corporate with capacity to sue and be sued under Florida Statute § 1001.72(1).


Headnotes

[1] Under Florida Statute § 1001.72(1), a state university's board of trustees is designated as a body corporate with the power to sue and be sued, and is therefore the prope…

Previewing 1 of 1 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Emma Eggler appealed a circuit court decision in an action against the University of West Florida and its Board of Trustees.…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.

Opinion of the Court

FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL

STATE OF FLORIDA

No. 1D2025-1579

EMMA EGGLER, Appellant,

v.

UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA

and UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA BOARD OF TRUSTEES, Appellees.

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.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw