PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Thousands of law students attempting to take the bar exam in 42 states got a nasty surprise: They couldn't upload their answers.

The designers of the bar exam software say they had compatibility issues between their hardware and servers, and their program was overloaded by the number of students.

Perhaps law students were the wrong crowd to anger. They filed lawsuits in California, Illinois and Washington state, and those attorneys are seeking to make the cases into a class-action suit against the software company, ExamSoft.

No one yet knows whether a student failed the bar because of the upload errors.

The students say they endured pain and suffering due to ExamSoft's error. The lawsuits claim that ExamSoft committed a breach of contract and was negligent in its duties.

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