Hux v. Southern Methodist Univ., No. 15-10654 (5th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff a former SMU student, filed suit against the university, alleging nineteen causes of action stemming from his dismissal as a community advisor (CA). The only claim at issue on appeal, whether SMU breached a duty of good faith and fair dealing, was dismissed by the district court for failure to state a claim. The court agreed with the district court that plaintiff had not alleged facts that, taken as true, would give rise to the type of special relationship that creates a duty of good faith and fair dealing under Texas law; even assuming arguendo that the student-university relationship could possibly give rise to a duty of good faith and fair dealing, plaintiff’s allegations are not sufficient to show that such a relationship existed; none of plaintiff's theories demonstrate that his purported special relationship with SMU administrators existed before and independently of the immediate circumstances of the course of events that led to his dismissal as a CA; and plaintiff’s claims demonstrate at most the sort of unilateral, purely subjective sense of trust that Texas courts have determined is insufficient to convert an ordinary arm’s-length relationship into a special or confidential relationship. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment.
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