Hofstra bar-exam collapse sparks lawsuit

Mary Jane Jung, a 36-year-old Fordham Law School graduate, sued Hofstra University after collapsing during the July 30, 2025 New York bar exam at the school’s David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex, according to court descriptions cited by multiple outlets. The lawsuit says Jung gasped for air, cried out, lost consciousness and turned blue during the exam, then suffered cardiac arrest and a permanent brain injury after emergency care was delayed. (abajournal.com) Hofstra has denied the allegations and has said its public safety officers immediately provided CPR and defibrillation until paramedics arrived. (newjersey.news12.com) The case has drawn attention because the dispute is not over whether Jung had a medical emergency, but over what happened in the first minutes after it began. (abajournal.com) Witnesses quoted in 2025 accounts said proctors told other examinees to keep working, while the lawsuit says emergency medical services were not immediately summoned and CPR was not promptly administered. Jung is seeking undisclosed financial damages in New York state Supreme Court in Nassau County. ### Who is suing, and what does she say happened in the room? Mary Jane Jung of Palisades Park, New Jersey, says she suffered cardiac arrest while taking the bar exam at Hofstra on July 30, 2025. The suit says the emergency unfolded in front of proctors, staff and hundreds of examinees, and argues that the signs of distress were obvious. (abajournal.com) The complaint, as described in coverage of the filing, says Jung struggled to breathe, cried out and then lost consciousness before lunch. It alleges that proctors continued the exam for other test takers and that responders were not allowed to treat her until the session ended. (abajournal.com) ### What part of the timeline is disputed? The central dispute is the response time. A witness quoted by ABC7 in August 2025 said it took more than seven or eight minutes before someone came to administer CPR, and said a proctor told students to continue the exam. Hofstra gave a different account in 2025. A university spokesperson said at the time that Hofstra Public Safety officers “immediately provided life-saving emergency care, including CPR and defibrillation,” and that paramedics then transported Jung to a local hospital. (brooklyn.news12.com) ### Why does the exam setup matter to the lawsuit? (abajournal.com) The lawsuit ties the medical response to the rules of the bar exam itself. News 12’s account of the complaint says Jung argues that strict exam rules limited movement and communication, leaving candidates dependent on staff to summon and coordinate emergency help. (abc7ny.com) That issue has surfaced beyond this lawsuit. The New York State Bar Association said in a June 29, 2026 press release, later described by ABA Journal, that a July 2025 medical emergency at a Long Island test site caused distress because the test was not paused and no additional time was granted. (abc7ny.com) ### Did the incident lead to any broader response? The New York State Bar Association adopted a report on June 28, 2026 calling for revised emergency procedures after two recent bar-exam disruptions, including the Hofstra medical emergency. The recommendations included requiring staff to summon emergency medical services immediately, giving proctors authority to pause a session during a medical emergency, and creating security rules for interrupted exams. (newjersey.news12.com) The same ABA Journal report said New York’s standard bar-exam protocols had not been updated since 1991. The exam is developed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners and administered in New York by the state Board of Law Examiners. (abajournal.com) ### What happens next in the case? The lawsuit was filed last week in state Supreme Court in Nassau County, New York, according to ABA Journal and local reports. Hofstra has denied the allegations, and Jung is seeking unspecified damages for what the suit describes as permanent, life-altering injuries. Any next public step is likely to come through court filings in Nassau County or a response by Hofstra and other parties named in reporting on the case. (abajournal.com) Separate from the litigation, the New York State Bar Association’s proposed exam-emergency changes are already on the record from its June 2026 action. (abajournal.com)