Oracle Corp. has filed suit against the Oregon agency that operated the state's now-defunct Obamacare marketplace website, in the process accusing Gov. John Kitzhaber of trying to systematically "vilify the company in the media."
In a 21-page complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for Oregon, Oracle maintains the state continued to work with the company to fix problems with the Cover Oregon site while at the same time carrying out a campaign of "constant public slander."
Cover Oregon finally dropped Oracle as its web developer for the health care insurance site in March and the next month shut it down and turned over operations to the federal government with its HealthCare.gov site, the main national vehicle for selling policies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare.
Gov.Kitzhaber urged the state attorney general back in May to sue Oracle, but before that happened, Oracle opened fire with its own legal action this past Friday.
Melissa Navas, a spokesperson for the governor, said the lawsuit was expected and would be vigorously challenged because of "Oracle's failure to deliver" on the development of CoverOregon.com, which cost $248 million to build — all with federal taxpayer dollars.
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