NEVADA CITY, Calif. Feb. 24, 2010 - On February 18 Nevada County was served with a lawsuit listing Aptitude Solutions, the County of Nevada and the Office of the Clerk-Recorder as defendants. The suit was filed in federal court on Feb. 3, 2010. The plaintiff is a company called AtPac, a former software provider for the Recorder's Office. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants breached contractual obligations, infringed AtPac's copyrights and unlawfully disclosed proprietary information. The suit asks for an unspecified amount in punitive damages.
The Timeline
On July 17, 2008 Nevada County's Information and General Services Department issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Recording Systems.
On July 31, 2008 AtPac, through the Shafer Law Group (SLG) sent a termination letter to Nevada County. The letter, erroneously addressed to former Clerk-Recorder Kathleen Smith, stated AtPac's desire to terminate the contract for services effective August 31, 2008. "AtPac is contracted to provide the system to Nevada County until June 30, 2010. AtPac has been paid through June 30, 2009." -- excerpt from a letter by SLG dated August 20, 2008.
The termination letter was signed by David A. Shafer, principal of SLG.
On August 15, 2008 a hand-delivered letter from SLG requested copies of "all writings" relative to the county's RFP. The letter also requested copies of all correspondence to Aptitude Solutions, as well as all correspondence to and from Nicole Graff and Patty Sandever, both employed by Aptitude Solutions.
The letter was signed by Barry W. Pruett for the Shafer Law Group.
On August 19, 2008 AtPac's lawyers (SLG) filed a California Public Records Act Request via certified mail. The request was for:
"All "writings," as defined by Cal. Govt. Code § 6252(g), including but not limited to documents, written correspondence, notes, emails, or letters, which are concerning AtPac, a California corporation, Wayne Long, Jim Maclam, or Linda Maclam from June 1, 2006 to present."
The letter was signed by Barry W. Pruett for the Shafer Law Group.
A letter sent via certified mail dated August 20, 2008 to Nevada County Counsel's office summed up conference calls between County Counsel's office and SLG. The letter also alleged that AtPac was not informed of the issuance of an RFP for services in the Recorder's Office: "...AtPac was not provided with notice of the RFP for some reason other than a business judgment reason."
The certified letter was signed by Barry W. Pruett for the Shafer Law Group.
Editor's note: Any person or company interested in receiving any and all RFPs issued by Nevada County can subscribe, for free, on the county's web site: Vendor-list -- Requests for Proposals & Tenders and receive notification of RFPs in real time. This list, as well as all other mailing lists the county offers free of charge, can be accessed from the county's subscription list.
On Sept. 11, 2008, SLG filed a California Public Records Act Request on behalf of AtPac, requesting all "writings" since June 1 of 2006 between the county and the following companies: AmCad, ACS Enterprise Solutions, Record Fusion, Southtech Systems Inc and AtPac.
The letter was signed by Barry W. Pruett for the Shafer Law Group.
The team decided to invite Aptitude, RecordFusion, and AtPac for product demonstrations/interviews. AmCad was not selected because the cost of their proposal was determined by the Clerk-Recorder to be prohibitive."
The same document also contains a summary of the key points that were considered in the final decision making process.
On November 18, 2008, the Nevada County BOS voted 5-0 to approve a resolution authorizing execution of a Software License Agreement with Aptitude Solutions, Inc. for a new Recorder System in the County-Clerk Recorder's office for a total amount of $229,428.
On February 18, 2010, Nevada County was served with the federal lawsuit by AtPac filed by the law firm Downey Brand LLP.
Barry Pruett has announced his candidacy for the office of Clerk-Recorder in the June election. He told YubaNet today that he is no longer with the Shafer Law Group. According to Pruett, he ceased working on the AtPac case in August or September 2009, to the best of his recollection. SLG confirmed that Pruett was no longer a member of the law firm as of December 31, 2009.
Current Clerk-Recorder Gregory Diaz is also running in the June 2010 election. He was appointed unanimously by the Nevada County BOS in 2007.
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