(A) The trial lawyer's favorite accusation is "they lied!" That's because many jurors and judges won't understand technology; they will understand --- and be

(A) The trial lawyer's favorite accusation is "they lied!" That's because many jurors and judges won't understand technology; they will understand --- and be inclined to punish --- lying. [1] We see this in the very first paragraphs of Oregon's written pleading. (B) Software developers should consider some pro-active steps to try to forestall "they lied!" accusations, such as: * providing a written risk-factors disclosure; * including a no-reliance clause in the contract; and * clearly labeling demos, mock-ups, and wire frames as such. These are discussed in the "related posts" linked at [1]. (C) Another example of "they lied" carrying the day: BSkyB Ltd. [Sky Broadcasting] v. HP Enterprise Services UK Ltd. [2], where the court found that EDS (later acquired by HP) misrepresented its ability to do a complex project; that resulted in the contract's limitation-of-liability clause being thrown out, which cost EDS hundreds of millions of dollars extra. (D) For good measure, here's another example of a state suing over a software project gone bad: Indiana v. IBM [3], where IBM had a contract to overhaul the State of Indiana's system for administering welfare benefits. It didn't go well. IBM basically won in court. NOTES: [1] Self-cite: http://www.oncontracts.com/why-the-fraud-claim-is-the-lawyers-weapon-of-choice-in-lawsuits-over-failed-technology-projects-6/ http://www.oncontracts.com/why-the-fraud-claim-is-the-lawyer... [2] http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/TCC/2010/86.html http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/TCC/2010/86.html, discussed at http://www.oncontracts.com/eds-british-sky-overpromising/ http://www.oncontracts.com/eds-british-sky-overpromising/ (self-cite). [3] http://www.scribd.com/doc/100544020/Indiana-IBM-Decision http://www.scribd.com/doc/100544020/Indiana-IBM-Decision