Oregon is suing Oracle over its failed healthcare enrollment website

Oregon has filed a long-expected lawsuit against Oracle over its role developing the state’s troubled health insurance exchange website, alleging the vendor fraudulently induced Oregon to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for software and services that didn’t work as promised. Oracle’s actions “amount to a pattern of racketeering,” according to the 126-page complaint filed Friday by Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum in a state circuit court. First, Oracle lied about its capabilities, saying its software could meet Oregon’s needs “out-of-the-box,” the complaint states. After a deal was struck, Oracle committed breach of contract by “overcharging for poorly trained Oracle personnel to provide incompetent work,” hiding its shortcomings from Oregon, and refusing to honor a warranty calling for it to fix errors at no charge, the complaint alleges. In a statement Friday, Oracle called the suit “a fictional account” and said it expects to prevail in its own lawsuit against Oregon, which was filed two weeks ago. Oracle has said state officials are running a “smear campaign” and are attempting to cover up their own failings.