The Florida Virtual School and its attorneys have been ordered to pay $1.3 million in sanctions after a federal judge determined the state-funded institution pursued an “abusive” lawsuit against a private competitor.
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The sum is based on an estimate of the amount of money Stride Inc. spent defending itself in the years-long legal case. Much of it is likely to be paid by the Orlando-based public virtual school, known as FLVS, as a judge’s order, filed this week, limits how much some of the outside legal firms it hired will be required to pay.
The judge ruled in April that FLVS had acted in “bad faith” and censured the school for pursuing the lawsuit, which it lost initially and then on appeal. At the time, Judge Gregory Presnell said the state school would face fines.
FLVS, a national pioneer in online education, sued Stride in a trademark infringement case in 2020. The public school claimed $6 billion in damages, as it took issue with Stride’s partnership with a small Florida school district to provide online classes and the logos and website used to market that effort, alleging the material was too similar to what FLVS used. Stride, formerly known as K12, is a private online education company based in Virginia.
In an order issued on April 9, Presnell rebuked the Florida school for its pursuit of nationwide damages, writing that its lawyers had presented no proof that the school had suffered financial harm, an essential element of trademark infringement cases.
Attorney Steve Hollman, lead counsel for Stride, applauded the court’s order this week.
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“We appreciate the court’s opinion which reaffirms the proposition that in any case — whether routine or exceptional — civil litigants and the court need to be protected from claims that are “abusive” and not well founded in fact or warranted by existing law,” Hollman said in a statement. “Hopefully, these sanctions will serve to deter FLVS and its various many counsel from frivolous litigation in the future.”
FLVS did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday about Presnell’s order.
FLVS lost the suit two years ago. At that time, the school said it had spent more than $2 million pursuing the lawsuit, hiring four outside law firms to fight the case. Its legal bills likely have swelled since then after it unsuccessfully appealed the 2024 decision.
The case has a “long and tortured” history that has been well-documented in previous court filings, Presnell wrote in the order filed July 14. After a 2023 bench trial, this court found that the virtual school had produced “no credible evidence” of confusion between FLVS and the school tied to Stride — which is what the virtual school claimed — and no damages that would back up a trademark infringement claim.
Presnell’s order, which names FLVS and several outside attorneys hired by the school, does not spell out exactly how much the virtual school is to pay. But it caps the fines levied against several of the attorneys based on their level of involvement in the case and ability to pay, with some limited to $25,000, for example. Those numbers suggest FLVS will pay the lion’s share of the sanction.
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FLVS and its attorneys have 30 days to pay the $1.3 million total.