Countersuit filed against Sunshine Mills
An Atlanta-based computer company who was successfully sued by Sunshine Mills, Inc., in December is now turning the tables on the local dog food company.
A jury awarded Sunshine Mills $16,381,343 in compensatory damages and $45 million in punitive damages after Sunshine Mills filed suit against Ross Systems for fraud.
The Atlanta company was supposed to help modernize the Red Bay plant with a new software system that would improve the quality of the company’s operating procedures.
However, according to court records, the attorneys for Sunshine Mills argued that Ross Systems falsely identified their product as being the latest, cutting edge technology, and instead, the software turned out to be a beta version of the software, which had never been tested.
Attorneys Stephen Rowe and Danny McDowell, who represented Sunshine Mills, contended the software nearly shut down the dog food plant and cost the company millions of dollars in lost time and revenue.
Officials at Ross Systems said the managers at Sunshine Mills knew the software had bugs to work out and was still in the early stages.
During a hearing held at the Franklin County courthouse on Wednesday morning to try to lessen the $61 million verdict awarded to Sunshine Mills, Ross Systems discussed the lawsuit filed this month against Sunshine Mills in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
Since Sunshine Mills sued for fraud, officials at Ross Systems said the company must discontinue using the software since it’s not under contract.
However, officials at Ross Systems claimed that Sunshine Mills is continuing to use the software and is doing so without a license, which is the basis for the suit.
The suit claims Ross Systems is seeking undisclosed damages and a court order to make Sunshine Mills stop using the software.
McDowell stated Sunshine Mills had to pay $2 million to get the software to actually function properly and company representatives said the removal of the software could shut down operations at the plant.
The appeal process in these cases is expected to last several months.
