I’m facing the following error that I’m not able to overcome.
I’m utilizing Spark 3.1.2, Scala 2.12, and Java 17.

A needed class was not found. This could be due to an error in your runpath. Missing class: org/json4s/JsonAST$JValue
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/json4s/JsonAST$JValue
    at java.base/java.lang.Class.getDeclaredConstructors0(Native Method)
    at java.base/java.lang.Class.privateGetDeclaredConstructors(Class.java:3373)
    at java.base/java.lang.Class.getConstructors(Class.java:2060)
    at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis.FunctionRegistry$.expression(FunctionRegistry.scala:602)
    at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis.FunctionRegistry$.<init>(FunctionRegistry.scala:201)
    at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis.FunctionRegistry$.<clinit>(FunctionRegistry.scala)
    at org.apache.spark.sql.internal.BaseSessionStateBuilder.$anonfun$functionRegistry$2(BaseSessionStateBuilder.scala:105)
    at scala.Option.getOrElse(Option.scala:189)
    at org.apache.spark.sql.internal.BaseSessionStateBuilder.functionRegistry$lzycompute(BaseSessionStateBuilder.scala:105)
    at org.apache.spark.sql.internal.BaseSessionStateBuilder.functionRegistry(BaseSessionStateBuilder.scala:103)
    at org.apache.spark.sql.internal.BaseSessionStateBuilder.build(BaseSessionStateBuilder.scala:338)
    at org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession$.org$apache$spark$sql$SparkSession$$instantiateSessionState(SparkSession.scala:1145)
    at org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession.$anonfun$sessionState$2(SparkSession.scala:159)
    at scala.Option.getOrElse(Option.scala:189)
    at org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession.sessionState$lzycompute(SparkSession.scala:155)
    at org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession.sessionState(SparkSession.scala:152)
    at org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession.$anonfun$sql$2(SparkSession.scala:616)
    at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.QueryPlanningTracker.measurePhase(QueryPlanningTracker.scala:111)
    at org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession.$anonfun$sql$1(SparkSession.scala:616)
    at org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession.withActive(SparkSession.scala:775)
    at org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession.sql(SparkSession.scala:613)
    at org.apache.spark.sql.SQLContext.sql(SQLContext.scala:650)
    at com.foo.bar.buz.transformations.SparkTransformationsSpec.<init>(SparkTransformationsSpec.scala:47)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:77)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)
    at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstanceWithCaller(Constructor.java:499)
    at java.base/java.lang.reflect.ReflectAccess.newInstance(ReflectAccess.java:128)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.ReflectionFactory.newInstance(ReflectionFactory.java:347)
    at java.base/java.lang.Class.newInstance(Class.java:645)
    at org.scalatest.tools.Runner$.genSuiteConfig(Runner.scala:1403)
    at org.scalatest.tools.Runner$.$anonfun$doRunRunRunDaDoRunRun$8(Runner.scala:1202)
    at scala.collection.immutable.List.map(List.scala:293)
    at org.scalatest.tools.Runner$.doRunRunRunDaDoRunRun(Runner.scala:1201)
    at org.scalatest.tools.Runner$.$anonfun$runOptionallyWithPassFailReporter$24(Runner.scala:992)
    at org.scalatest.tools.Runner$.$anonfun$runOptionallyWithPassFailReporter$24$adapted(Runner.scala:970)
    at org.scalatest.tools.Runner$.withClassLoaderAndDispatchReporter(Runner.scala:1481)
    at org.scalatest.tools.Runner$.runOptionallyWithPassFailReporter(Runner.scala:970)
    at org.scalatest.tools.Runner$.run(Runner.scala:798)
    at org.scalatest.tools.Runner.run(Runner.scala)
    at org.jetbrains.plugins.scala.testingSupport.scalaTest.ScalaTestRunner.runScalaTest2or3(ScalaTestRunner.java:43)
    at org.jetbrains.plugins.scala.testingSupport.scalaTest.ScalaTestRunner.main(ScalaTestRunner.java:26)
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.json4s.JsonAST$JValue
    at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.loadClass(BuiltinClassLoader.java:641)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.ClassLoaders$AppClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoaders.java:188)
    at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:525)
    ... 42 more