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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

RANKINGS REMIX - U.S. News & World Report has unveiled its 2023 Best Law Schools rankings and boy howdy is there some shakeup this year, including Harvard Law School being bumped out of the top three for the first time since 1990. That year, Harvard was fifth behind Yale Law School, University of Chicago Law School, Stanford Law School and Columbia Law School. But since then—and until now—Harvard has been in the top 3. In the latest rankings, however, Harvard tied for No. 4 with Columbia. UChicago Law moved into Harvard's No. 3 spot, after having tied last year with Columbia in fourth place—so basically, Harvard and UChicago Law switched places. And that's just one example of this year's rankings reshuffling, which came about in part because of some key changes to the methodology. Law.com's Christine Charnosky has all the details on the rest of the list right here.

TUITION TENSION -  So far, the D.C. Circuit is the only federal appeals court to rule in a COVID-19 tuition reimbursement case, having recently allowed complaints to proceed against George Washington University and American University in which plaintiffs argue the schools breached contracts by going remote at the height of the pandemic while still charging full price. That decision may very well prove to be the one that turns the tide in favor of plaintiffs in these cases. But as recent arguments before the Second Circuit show, that's far from a sure thing. As Law.com's Avalon Zoppo reports, two Second Circuit judges appeared to be split on whether a refund lawsuit against New York University should be revived. Judge Barrington Daniels Parker Jr. seemed to doubt that the parent of an NYU student had standing to bring her complaint. But Judge Michael Park, who also sat on the panel, didn't share Parker's skepticism, noting that the parent made the tuition payment herself. "I don't see how [Rynasko] was injured … NYU didn't promise her anything," Parker said. "If she had standing, what is it that mother was entitled to that she didn't get?" Park, however, said it seemed Rynasko had a "straightforward economic injury" that would allow her to sue. "Ms. Rynasko's, as I understand the plaintiff, argument is 'I didn't get what I paid for' and that seems to be a straightforward economic injury. … She didn't give the money to her daughter, who then made the payment. She went online herself as a third-party payer," Park said.

WHO GOT THE WORK?℠ - A group of Dentons partners have entered appearances for MetLife in a pending consumer class action over the pricing and marketing of individual long-term care insurance policies. The case, filed Feb. 1 in Missouri Eastern District Court, contends that MetLife misrepresented its '5% Automatic Compound Inflation Protection Rider' program and raised its premiums despite advertised assurances that benefit amounts would automatically increase each year without a corresponding increase in premiums. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White, is 4:22-cv-00129, Collins et al v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. >> Read the filing on Law.com Radar and check out the most recent edition of Law.com's Who Got the Work?℠ column to find out which law firms and lawyers are being brought in to handle key cases and close major deals for their clients.