Practice Area(s): General Litigation, Business Claims Litigation
Client/Industry: Distributor and reseller of computer technology solutions
Attorney(s): Mark Wallach; Kim Moses
Situation Summary:
Calfee’s client, a large technology company, engaged an international consultant to assist it in replacing its supply chain management and financial computer systems. The consultant had represented that the selected software combination would serve the client’s business interests and that it had specific experience and expertise in implementing it. Based on those representations, the client followed the consultant’s software recommendations and engaged the consultant to serve as the project manager for the implementation of the software.
The consultant was paid in excess of $40 million for its consulting and project management services, but the project was completely unsuccessful. Not only was the project not completed on time, but when it was finished, the software never operated as intended and was never functional. Finally, the client determined that the consultant did not have the experience and expertise on the selected software that it had represented itself to have and that the software combination had never been successfully implemented.
Calfee Approach:
Calfee filed suit, on behalf of the technology company, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio against the consultants on a number of theories, including computer consultant malpractice, breach of contract and negligence.
Resolution:
Following a three week jury trial, the consulting company agreed to a lucrative, multi-million dollar settlement, compensating the client for much of its losses.
The results described in each case study are dependent on the specific factual and legal circumstances of the matter described, and constitute neither legal advice nor a guarantee of similar results with respect to any other matter.