A company that designed the software that was used to grade the Georgia State Bar Exam essay answers is being sued, according to a recent article published by the American Bar Association Journal (“ABA Journal”). According to the report, an alleged glitch in the product designed by ILG Information Technologies (“ILG”) resulted in incorrect scores. 90 people were then wrongly notified they had failed the July 2015 and February 2016 bar exams. The lawsuit was brought by a plaintiff, John Murray, who was one of the 90 notified of failing the bar exam when in fact he had actually passed.
The lawsuit was filed in Bryan County State Court and is seeking class-action status and damages, including compensation for missed job opportunities. Murray retook the bar exam in February of 2016 after being notified that he had failed the July 2015 exam. The state Supreme Court’s Office of Bar Examiners pledged to reimburse those affected for any subsequent exams taken. John Sammon, the chair of the Board of Bar Examiners, personally called and apologized all 90 test takers who had been affected, according to the ABA Journal.
Class Action Suit Basics
A class action suit may be filed based on a variety of different legal disputes that affect a large number of individual people including:
- Unfair or fraudulent business practices relating to services;
- Defective or unreasonably dangerous products;
- Securities fraud or other stockholder claims; and
- Employment-related claims.
In order for these claims to proceed as a class action, the class must be “certified” by the court. The type of law that governs the claim, state or federal, depends on the underlying subject matter of the lawsuit. While the procedure for certifying a class differs slightly among the federal system and the different state rules, the requirements for class certification generally include:
- Too many possible claimants that it is impracticable to join them all as named plaintiffs in one traditional lawsuit;
- All claims are based on the same question of law or fact;
- The class representatives have the same claim as others in the class and, for this reason, any arguments the defendant may raise would be the same or similar;
- Class representatives will provide fair and adequate protection for the class.
Class Action Lawyer
If you have experienced an issue with a consumer product or service, or if you are confronted with a legal issue that may affect a large number of other people, you should first research if a class action related to your matter exists. Then, you should contact a knowledgeable Georgia personal injury attorney to learn about your rights and obligations under the law.
