Inside Higher Ed, Hofstra Says It Had No ‘Duty to Protect’ Student Who Collapsed During Bar Exam:
Hofstra University claims it had no responsibility to help a person who went into cardiac arrest while taking the bar exam on its campus in July 2025, court filings show.
“While Hofstra sympathizes with the Plaintiff for the medical episode she suffered on July 30, 2025 … Hofstra did not owe a legal duty to provide any first aid assistance to the plaintiff,” a lawyer for the university wrote last week in a motion to dismiss a lawsuit the student filed against Hofstra.
Mary Jane Jung was sitting for the bar exam when she “gasped for air, cried out, lost consciousness, collapsed, and turned blue in full view of proctors, staff, and hundreds of examinees,” according to the lawsuit she filed in July with a state court in Nassau County, N.Y. Although “every lost minute mattered,” staff in the testing room didn’t immediately summon emergency services, the lawsuit said. “Instead, the examination continued. Candidates were instructed to keep working, those who attempted to stand or assist were discouraged or admonished, and Plaintiff remained unconscious without the urgent intervention her condition demanded.”
- ABA Journal, Hofstra University Says It Had No Responsibility to Help Bar Candidate in Cardiac Arrest
- Bloomberg, Hofstra Says It Had No Duty to Aid Bar Taker in Cardiac Crisis
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