The combined legal costs of a dispute betweenBritish Sky BroadcastingandEDSover a customer relationship
management system are expected to approach £45m - almost as much as
the original £48m price of the project.
On a single day at the High Court last week more than 20 people
occupied the legal benches of both sides, including three Queen's
counsels.
There were more than 700 box files of material, such as expert
reports, contracts, EDS internal standards and witness statements,
in the court room. The case is expected to last more than six
months.
Stephen Castell, an expert witness in IT litigation, who is not
involved in the BSkyB case, said he was "astonished" at the size of
the legal costs, which are among the highest in any IT-related
dispute.
Both sides face logistical difficulties in fighting the case.
The project dates back about seven years and some of the witnesses
no longer work for BSkyB or EDS and are being flown in from
various parts of the world.
BSkyB filed a claim against EDS in August 2004, but it has taken
more than two years for the case to reach the High Court. It began
this month with BSkyB outlining its claim against EDS for £709m,
part of which is compensation for alleged lost benefits.
"This is a case about deceit," said QC Mark Howard opening the
case for BSkyB. "Sky allege that, during the course of a
competitive tender, EDS represented they had the resources, proven
technology, and methodology to enable them to deliver the solution
within a certain timescale and cost.
"The representations are alleged to have been made dishonestly
in order to win the business."
In EDS's opening defence, QC Mark Barnes said, "We suggest it is
an artificial claim designed to overcome the difficulties that Sky
face under their contracts and to allow them to claim absurd and
extravagant amounts of damages." He said the "main problem with
this project was that it was wholly unspecified".
"Sky knew it wanted a super-dooper CRM system but had little
more idea of what it wanted or needed."
EDS strongly denies deceit, dishonesty, or
misrepresentation.