The state of Oregon has filed a lawsuit against Oracle — the primary developer of Oregon's online health exchange — and several of the company's executives alleging officials from Oracle made false statements, breached contracts and engaged in "a pattern of racketeering activity," according to a report from the Associated Press.
Oracle was the largest technology contractor working on Cover Oregon — Oregon's health exchange website — which never launched. In April, the board overseeing Oregon's health insurance exchange voted to abandon its malfunctioning site in favor of relying on HealthCare.gov. By that point, the state had spent at least $134 million on its exchange site and another $7 million processing paper applications after Oracle was unable to repair the site's technical problems.
The lawsuit was filed in Marion County Circuit Court in Salem, and seeks more than $200 million in damages. The lawsuit names several of Oracle's executives, included Safra Catz, the company's president and CFO.
On Aug. 8, Oracle filed its own lawsuit against Oregon, claiming the state owes Oracle $23 million. The breach-of-contract lawsuit alleged government officials continue to use Oracle's software even though they still owe $23 million in disputed bills. Additionally, the lawsuit alleges Cover Oregon executives did not define requirements for the system or hire a systems integrator to coordinate the work of technology vendors, both of which allegedly contributed to the failure of the exchange website.
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