Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

House settles contract lawsuits

House leaders agree to pay $3.75-million to settle a multimillion-dollar legal dispute over a computer system used for bills.

By JONI JAMES
Published February 20, 2005

TALLAHASSEE - Florida taxpayers will pay another $3.75-million to end a dispute over the House of Representatives' controversial computer system.

House leaders said Saturday they agreed to settle lawsuits with Hayes E-Government Resources, the Tallahassee computer firm hired in 2002 to create a Web-based computer system to draft and track House bills.

The settlement comes on top of $3.3-million taxpayers have already paid in legal fees to handle the dispute.

That makes the cost to taxpayers more than $7-million.

But Steve Burton, a Tampa attorney who has represented the House on the case since 2002, said it must be put in the context of the $11-million to $14-million he said Hayes had sought. In March 2003, the computer firm filed suit in state court alleging that former House Speaker Johnnie Byrd had illegally withheld payment on the original $2.9-million contract.

A later federal suit alleged copyright infringement by the House, Byrd, top House administrators and Software Architects, a Chicago firm hired to work on the system after Hayes left the job.

Current House Speaker Allan Bense, R-Panama City, said in December that resolving the case was one of his top priorities. A House leader said Saturday the two parties had agreed to the financial settlement 60 days ago, but it took until this week to iron out intellectual property matters and to negotiate a global settlement with all parties.

Software Architects will also pay Hayes $200,000 to settle Hayes' claims it lost potential work when the Chicago firm was hired to modify the Hayes system.

Under the settlement, the House could recoup some of its settlement costs. It will get royalties if Hayes sells the computer system they designed for the House to another client in the future.

That a federal judge had ruled in the past month that Byrd must submit to a deposition didn't play into the settlement timing at all, said House Rules Committee chairman Dudley Goodlette, R-Naples, who handled negotiations on Bense's behalf.

"I think this was resolved by Allan Bense as prudently and quickly as it could have been," Goodlette said. "The speaker wanted to make certain that any resolution was full and final and that the Florida House would have no more exposure."

Hayes' attorney Don Conwell of Tampa said the new House administration had been easy to work and negotiate with.

"My client is very interested in having an ongoing relationships with the House," Conwell said. "We have a lot of respect for this administration. They are very professional people."

As the Hayes system went live in late 2002, the House said the computer system was not performing as expected, and that the members and other staff members were having trouble using the system to draft bills and amendments. What happened next is disputed. Hayes said it was fired; Byrd's administration maintained the company walked off the job.

Saying the computer system was "in a ditch" that required emergency action, Byrd hired the Tampa law office of Broad & Cassel without competitive building to fix the problems. The office was run by Steve Burton, one of Byrd's political supporters.

Over the next two years, Byrd spent $3.3-million on legal representation in the case. Included in the bill was $709,000 paid to a Jagged Peak, a Clearwater computer company and Broad & Cassel client.

When Bense took over the speaker's office Nov. 16, he hired Tallahassee attorney George Meros of GrayRobinson to review the matter. He later hired the firm, without competitive bids, to work with Broad & Cassel to represent the House in the matter. Goodlette estimated GrayRobinson's bill will come to less than $50,000.

Goodlette wouldn't speculate on whether the suit might have been settled years ago. "I'm not familiar with what was happening then so I'd rather not comment," he said.

Burton said Byrd had attempted to settle with Hayes from the beginning. Byrd did not return a phone call seeking comment Saturday.

Broad & Cassel donated $10,000 to a political committee that funded Byrd's campaign to win the House speakership in 2002. It's managing partner in Tampa, Steve Burton, was also a contributor to Byrd's failed bid last year to become the Republican U.S. Senate nominee.

Byrd also appointed Burton to serve on the board of directors of an Alzheimer's research center the Legislature created and named after Byrd's late father, who died of the disease.

During his tenure, Byrd also hired the firm to work on other lawsuits involving congressional redistricting, a parental notification abortion law and a cost-of-living adjustment paid by the Legislature to urban school districts. Those contracts paid about $500,000.

[Last modified February 20, 2005, 00:52:14]