Jeff Parmet and Associates - Experience

Type of Case

Dispute involving the development and implementation of an integrated Public Safety Information System for a US municipality which included modules for a 911 call center: Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD), Records Management Systems (RMS) for Law Enforcement and Fire, Mobile in-car dispatch and reporting, and geographical mapping.

Services Provided

Engaged as a software failure expert witness by the software vendor to provide rebuttal reports to those submitted by the plaintiff’s expert. Reviewed documents produced by both sides and interviewed fact witnesses. Installed the software product versions installed by the municipality and received basic training from the vendor to gain solid understanding of the function and use, and conduct functional reviews of the products. Reviewed help desk call logs and other documentation to analyze reported issues (including code defects and steps taken by the vendor to address such reported issues and defects including correction of code errors). Consulted authoritative industry standards and best practices for Project Management and Software Engineering.

Type of Case

Arbitration involving the replacement of a legacy gas pipeline management, scheduling and billing system for a major North American gas pipeline company.

Services Provided

As a computer software expert, opined as to the software developer’s overall performance of services on the project. Reviewed documents produced by both sides including Pleadings, Depositions, Exhibits and documents created over the lifecycle of the project. Interviewed fact witnesses, observed the legacy system for functionality and performance, and conducted real-world validation testing of the delivered software. Applicable authoritative industry standards and best practices for Software Engineering were consulted and opinions formulated as to the developer’s performance and the causes of the project’s demise. A rebuttal report was also produced in response to reports by the developer’s technical expert, gas pipeline expert and damages expert.

Type of Case

A civil action involving the development of a large-scale system, for a major US catalogue retailer, which included a call center, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, order-entry software and an integrated web front-end. Software copyright infringement issues were also raised.

Services Provided

Designated as a software failure expert/software misappropriation expert in this dispute involving a failed software project. Reviewed extensive software lifecycle documentation and identified deviations from authoritative industry standards and best practices for Project Management and Software Engineering. Documentation reviewed included test cases, functional requirements and reported defects. Interviewed fact witnesses and conducted functional and performance validation testing. Analyzed source code contained in various source-code repository systems to determine whether the client’s own proprietary source code had been misappropriated by the vendor.

Type of Case

Alleged failure of software developer to deliver a usable online vacation package reservation system

Services Provided

Designated as computer software expert in contract dispute over development of an online reservation system. Reviewed extensive software-lifecycle documentation and identified material deviations from technical and functional specifications, as well as applicable industry standards. Resurrected and tested the delivered system to verify reported defects. Served as testifying expert witness.

Type of Case

Alleged failure of software developer to deliver a usable survey-management system within schedule, budget and technical specifications

Services Provided

Designated computer software expert in this contract dispute involving a failed software project. Reviewed extensive software-lifecycle documentation and identified material deviations from technical and functional specifications, as well as applicable industry standards. Served as testifying expert witness.

Type of Case

Y2K coverage dispute

Services Provided

Served as computer software failure expert in this Y2K coverage dispute involving recoverability of remediation costs under a sue and labor clause in a property policy. Work included analysis of remediation work completed and assessment of the appropriateness of allocated costs included in the claim.

Type of Case

Breach of contract, negligence and misrepresentation over a failed software project

Services Provided

Served as software copyright infringement expert on dispute over development of new software application to improve an insurance company’s policy issuance and rating system, to thereby enhance its competitive advantage. Reviewed software engineering lifecycle and identified material deviations from schedule, budget, technical and functional specifications, as well as applicable industry standards.

Type of Case

Electronic Discovery - Monitor compliance with preservation and production order

Services Provided

Served as a computer forensic expert in this class-action suit against a large pharmaceutical company. Role was the administration of a preservation and production order for documents, emails and databases. Identified and analyzed electronically stored evidence relevant to the order. Provided assurance of compliance with terms of preservation and production order.

Type of Case

ICANN proceeding to determine whether a domain name registered by an alleged cyber squatter is confusingly similar to the petitioner's domain name

Services Provided

Served as software intellectual property expert. Analyzed seven million web log records to assess whether traffic intended for petitioner’s commercial web site was being diverted to the alleged cyber squatter’s site.

Type of Case

Dispute over cancellation of a call center outsourcing contract due to alleged failure to achieve agreed-to service levels

Services Provided

Engaged as a computer expert to assess whether the outsourcer had met contractually mandated service levels for call center performance. Analyzed impact of people, process and technology, particularly the Siebel Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, on call center performance. Analyzed empirical data gathered for numerous metrics involved in outsourcer’s call center operations. Identified material deviations from required service levels for several of the required metrics.

Type of Case

Arbitration involving dispute over meaning of “same or similar services” as used in an executive non-compete agreement relating to computer hardware, software and telecommunications services

Services Provided

Served as software misappropriation expert on behalf of an executive for allegedly violating a non-compete agreement, which limited the executive’s right to work in certain areas of the computer industry. Investigated post-employment activities of former executive and opined as to whether such activities fell within the non-compete’s definition of “restricted activities.”

Type of Case

Alleged failure of merchandise planning software for large retailer

Services Provided

Designated as system failure expert on this contract dispute arising from the customer’s refusal to accept custom-developed software for alleged failure to meet customer’s performance requirements. Conducted functional and performance testing of merchandise-planning software, to determine whether it materially conformed to contractual specifications and applicable industry standards. Identified material deviations from specifications and likely causes. Analysis required monitoring all major system components, including network, database, client and application.

Type of Case

Dispute involving termination of software licensing rights for alleged breach of a software license agreement

Services Provided

Engaged as software misappropriation expert to analyze and compare source code and functionality of licensor and licensee software. Issue of liability centered on question of whether licensee “substantially improved or modified” licensor’s software. Elements evaluated included the application code, user interface and documentation. Identified numerous material differences in the two products. Opined that licensee had substantially improved or modified licensor’s software.

Type of Case

Electronic Discovery - Neutral Expert

Services Provided

Designated as a neutral computer forensics expert/electronic discovery expert in an electronic-discovery dispute involving civil fraud allegations against pharmaceutical benefit managers. Was selected after federal magistrate ordered parties to engage a neutral expert to help resolve disputed technical issues related to the production of digitally stored evidence.

Type of Case

A state bid protest involving a Medicaid management information system

Services Provided

Designated as the protesting party's computer expert. Issues addressed included whether the winning system bid conformed to statewide technical architecture standards for a 3-tier/N-tier architecture. Work included assessing technical aspects of the system architecture against the RFP and statewide architecture standards. Identified numerous material deviations from the RFP and statewide standards.

Type of Case

Alleged misappropriation of trade secrets in a reserve accounting software application

Services Provided

Serving as the software copyright infringement expert, this case was analyzed in two ways: first using computer forensics, and second, via software analysis. Forensically, analyzed source code file metadata to show inconsistencies in plaintiff’s theory of access. Using software analysis, compared system architectures, key software algorithms, look and feel, user interfaces and database tables of the two systems, identifying fundamental differences. Ultimately, analyses led to the opinion that defendant had independently developed a substantially different system.

Type of Case

Alleged wrongful termination of a software development contract

Services Provided

Served as the computer expert in a dispute involving a software-development contract terminated due to unrepaired Level-1 errors. Opposing expert conducted verification testing and opined that errors were not Level 1. In rebuttal, showed the opposing expert failed to follow accepted industry testing protocols and standards and, therefore, opposing expert’s opinions lacked a proper basis and should be excluded, which they were.

Type of Case

State court litigation involving development of a global virtual bank

Services Provided

Served as the computer expert in a contract dispute alleging that a systems integrator failed to deliver the project in accordance with budget, schedule and technical specifications. Performed schedule, budget and defect analysis showing the integrator had materially met all contractual obligations that claimant alleged had been breached.

Type of Case

Arbitration involving a health insurance claims processing system

Services Provided

Designated as the computer software expert in a contract dispute involving a computer system failure project resulting from alleged cost overruns, schedule delays, project-management failures and material deviations from functional and technical specifications. Prepared schedule delay analysis showing software development was far from complete at the time the contract was terminated. The arbitrator agreed with the findings presented at the arbitration hearing.

Type of Case

State court litigation involving development of an integrated accounting and project management system for the architecture and engineering (A&E) industry

Services Provided

Designated as the computer software expert in a contract dispute involving a failed software implementation. Analyzed technical aspects of each element of plaintiff’s fraudulent misrepresentation claim. Showed that (a) the software did not operate on a “single integrated database”; (b) at the time of the contract the developer had no plans for the software to operate on a single integrated database; and c) pre-contract demonstrations of the software operating as a single integrated database were smoke-and-mirrors fabrications.

Type of Case

Civil action against former employee for misappropriation of trade secrets in connection with alleged copying of the employer’s customer-contact database

Services Provided

Served as the software intellectual property expert in a dispute involving alleged misappropriation of a database containing plaintiff’s customer-contact information. Compared database records and prepared expert report rebutting opposing expert’s opinions that the database records had been copied from plaintiff’s database.

Type of Case

Computer Forensics - Criminal defense

Services Provided

Served as the computer forensic expert for the defense in a criminal case. Forensically imaged the disk drive of a computer central to the case, from which a Federal forensics lab had produced several messages allegedly created by defendant; found questionable work by the lab; showed mischaracterization of much of the material produced.

Type of Case

Civil action brought under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (18 USC 1030) and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)

Services Provided

Served as the court-appointed software misappropriation expert in connection with unauthorized access of an employer’s computer network by former employees. Work included forensic examination and analysis of former employees’ hard drives; analysis of employer’s network logs for unauthorized login attempts; identification of IP addresses of computers from which unauthorized access was attempted and tracing those to defendants’ Internet connections; analysis of email server logs for unauthorized access to certain management email accounts; preparation of declarations of findings and conclusions.