The California State Bar has initiated legal proceedings against ProctorU Inc., following a system collapse during the February Bar Exam. The suit seeks damages and a court-mandated audit due to allegations that the vendor, operating as Meazure Learning, failed to provide crucial information about the malfunctioning incident.
On the day before state lawmakers were scheduled to discuss a potential investigation into the State Bar regarding the exam disruption, the complaint was filed with the California Superior Court in Los Angeles County. This represents the first legal action from the State Bar related to this issue, although aspiring attorneys had previously sued Meazure earlier this year in February.
The complaint details how Meazure purportedly assured the State Bar of a seamless administration of both remote and in-person exams. Their assurances included a claimed 99.982% uptime during the exam period and readily available phone and chat support. Despite these claims, severe technical difficulties emerged on the exam day, including the suspension of the spell-check feature, and non-functional copy-paste, highlighting, and annotation capabilities. Additionally, there were significant typing delays and unprepared proctors, which contributed to a challenging exam environment.
These issues reportedly had precedent during a November exam trial, yet Meazure did not address them before the February examination, according to the complaint. Furthermore, inadequate remote exam provisioning forced the State Bar to incur additional costs for in-person test sites and led to confusion among applicants regarding exam logistics.
The complaint further highlights Meazure’s delayed communication in providing detailed reports on the encountered issues. The State Bar disputes Meazure’s refusal to allow an audit, stating that the vendor is not in compliance with its obligations.
While Meazure has not yet provided a response to the lawsuit, the State Bar, represented by Hueston Hennigan LLP and its in-house counsel, is considering remediation for applicants affected by the exam failure. This lawsuit underscores the ongoing challenges faced by the legal education field in adapting to virtual examination platforms.
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