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Oregon, Oracle Tangle In Federal Court

State lawmakers are set to grill the leaders of Cover Oregon on Monday and Tuesday.
Cover Oregon
State lawmakers are set to grill the leaders of Cover Oregon on Monday and Tuesday.

A federal court judge in Portland said Friday that for now, Oracle can’t have its way and keep its suit against the state of Oregon in federal court.

The case and a countersuit are about “Cover Oregon,” Oregon’s failed health insurance exchange website.

Oracle was the chief technology firm that put the website together. It never really worked as it was intended to work, and so the state wanted to get some compensation for all the money it sent to Oracle.

Oracle was upset that Oregon very publicly blamed Oracle for the problems with the Cover Oregon website.

So there are now two counter lawsuits, one in state court and one in federal court. Regardless of where this case is heard, it’s likely to be some time before there’s any sort of settlement or ruling in the case.

After the judge’s decision to send the case to state court, a company attorney said Oracle plans to file an amended request to have the case heard in federal court.

Copyright 2014 Northwest News Network

Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.