Rosenblum v. Oracle America Inc.We represent the software company, Oracle America, Inc., in a series of lawsuits in Oregon state and federal courts between Oracle and the state of Oregon arising out of Oregon’s attempts to create and manage a state health insurance exchange (HIX) under the Federal Affordable Care Act. Oracle provided much of the software for the project, billing the State over $200M for Oracle’s work and software. The project was delayed due to the State’s actions, and the State terminated the contracts with Oracle and refused to pay outstanding invoices, but continued to use Oracle’s software. Oracle sued the State for breach of contract and copyright infringement claiming damages in excess of $20M, and the State sued Oracle for $5B asserting claims of racketeering and violations of Oregon’s False Claims Act. Oracle also sued a group of political advisors to Oregon’s then-Governor, John Kitzhaber, claiming the advisors induced officials to terminate the Oracle contract and blame Oracle for the HIX delays, in order to provide Kitzhaber political cover for the HIX failure as Kitzhaber ran for re-election as Governor. Kitzhaber was re-elected, but then resigned, following the initiation of a federal criminal investigation and claims of corruption against Kitzhaber and his administration. A U.S. House Committee is investigating the State’s actions and the activities of its officials. The cases are very high profile because of the resignation and criminal investigation of the former Governor, and because of the public interest due to the connection to healthcare reform and the Affordable Care Act. The dollar amount of the State’s claims and the very nature of those claims, which allege fraudulent business practices by one of the most successful and respected software companies in the world, make these cases of paramount importance to Oracle. The cases raise a host of challenging and interesting legal issues. The cases have, to date, raised constitutional questions about the State’s acquisition of certain of its claims against Oracle, the application of Oregon’s Anti-SLAPP statute to the actions of the former Governor’s political advisors, and the State of Oregon’s assertion of Eleventh Amendment immunity. The former Governor’s personal e-mail account, through which he often conducted state business, but over which he claims privilege for himself and others, presents discovery and access issues similar to those raised by Hilary Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server to conduct government business. The State’s claims against individual Oregon employees, including Oracle’s CEO, raise novel issues of personal jurisdiction, which are already before the Oregon Supreme Court on a mandamus petition in this case. Oracle and a number of media and public interest groups have requested the State produce documents under Oregon’s Public Records Act, and the State and the ex-Governor have asserted privileges and bars to production which may result in additional lawsuits challenging attempts to limit production under the Public Records Act. |