Settlement Reached in ExamSoft Program Glitch Class Action

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Last week, settlement documents were filed in Florida federal court in the class action lawsuit accusing ExamSoft Worldwide Inc. of glitches in its programming that prevented bar exam takers from uploading their answers, allegedly causing a “Bar Exam Disaster.”

Lead plaintiffs representing prospective attorneys who purchased ExamSoft’s program SofTest for $100 to $150 to submit their answers to the bar exam sued the programming company last year after glitches in the program allegedly prevented the test takers from submitting their answers. After the July 2014 exam, 10 separate class action lawsuits were filed. They were consolidated into Florida federal court.

“Having created the ‘Biggest Bar Exam Disaster Ever,’ ExamSoft made the situation even worse by failing to offer any effective customer service or help addressing the disaster it had created,” according to one of the ExamSoft class action lawsuits. “[ExamSoft] refused to refund any exam takers’ money despite the fact that the product they had sold to the thousands of exam takers had wholly failed to perform its explicit and sole function.”

The plaintiffs alleged that ExamSoft had deceptively marketed the software as a way to make taking the bar exam less stressful. The plaintiffs claimed that the software was defective because it was not designed to handle the volume of exam answers that would be submitted. According to the ExamSoft class action lawsuit, SofTest is the only available means by which bar exam takers can take and submit the exam electronically.

The bar exam is held twice each year and electronic test takers must upload their answers by a set deadline or they will not be accepted. When their exam answers failed to upload on the first day of the bar exam, the plaintiffs claimed that they and other Class Members stayed up frantically trying to upload the answers, rather than preparing for the second day of testing. The plaintiffs also alleged that when the glitches caused problems on test day, ExamSoft did not provide adequate customer support resources to help mitigate the problem.

According to settlement documents, each bar exam taker who purchased the software will receive $90, amounting to a $2.1 million payment by ExamSoft. In addition, ExamSoft has agreed to enhance the program to improve the ways test takers can communicate with the company.

The plaintiffs in the Florida case also amended their ExamSoft class action lawsuit to name plaintiffs in the other actions in court documents on Tuesday.

The plaintiffs are represented by John A. Yanchunis of Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group, Tina Wolfson of Ahdoot & Wolfson PC, Jay Edelson of Edelson PC, Gretchen Freeman Cappio of Keller Rohrback LLP and Benjamin F. Johns of Chimicles & Tikellis LLP.

The ExamSoft Class Action Lawsuit is Amanda West, et al. v. ExamSoft Worldwide Inc., Case No. 1:14-cv-22950, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

UPDATE: Instructions on how to file a claim for the ExamSoft class action settlement are now available! Click here for more information.