Think Technologies, Inc. v. Amazon Herb Company

    DisputeSoft was engaged as a software expert in July 2005 by defendant Amazon Herb Company in the matter of Think Technologies, Inc. v. Amazon Herb Company in the U.S. Circuit Court for the 17th Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County, Florida. Plaintiff Think Technologies alleged that Amazon Herb had breached a contractual agreement by terminating a software project prior to the project’s completion. Think Technologies also alleged that the defendant failed to pay all remaining invoices for work completed prior to the project’s termination.

    In January 2002, Amazon Herb hired Think Technologies to replace their Visual Flex and SaltWeb legacy systems with a web-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Amazon Herb planned to use the ERP system to integrate several business management tasks into one system, including warehouse and inventory control, currency conversion, international localization, and various distributor calculation functionalities.

    Nature of Dispute

    In February 2004, Amazon Herb informed Think Technologies that they were discontinuing the project due to Think Technologies’ failure to:

    1
    Properly understand the project requirements.
    2
    Respond appropriately to software errors.
    3
    Deliver a working ERP system with promised functionality on time and within budget.

    On May 12, 2004, Think Technologies filed a civil action against Amazon Herb alleging that termination of the contract was unwarranted, and that Amazon Herb owed Think Technologies $340,714.19 for completed work.

    Our Services

    As a software expert for Amazon Herb, DisputeSoft:

    1
    Interviewed fact witnesses, reviewed recordings of project meetings, and analyzed project documents, software application code, data, object models, database structures, and data records to determine the cause of project management and software engineering failures.
    2
    Conducted extensive functional software testing to reach determinations as to the presence of alleged defects related to the website architecture, product order and return modules, and database design.
    3
    Prepared a schedule delay analysis using standard software project schedule analysis techniques to depict delays resulting from the as-planned verses as-built project schedules.
    4
    Performed a cost estimate analysis for Think Technologies’ various deliverables, and compared these to the actual costs billed to Amazon Herb.

    DisputeSoft Managing Partner Jeff Parmet proffered an expert report on behalf of Amazon Herb, in which he concluded that Think Technologies had failed to deliver a functioning software system after more than seven months past the promised delivery date and after incurring substantial cost overruns. Mr. Parmet also concluded that Think Technologies materially deviated from accepted industry standards in project management and software engineering, which ultimately resulted in the project’s failure and gave Amazon Herb reason to terminate the agreement. The case settled in July 2007 prior to deposition or trial.

    Jeff Parmet

    Jeff Parmet (1946 – 2023)

    Founder & Chief Advisor (2003 - 2023)

    Jeff Parmet was a widely respected IT dispute resolution specialist who served as a con…

    , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

    J. Todd Trivett

    Managing Director

    Todd Trivett is a recognized industry expert in Information Technology, providing consu…

    , , , , , , , , , ,

    Learn more about our Software Project Failure Services

    DisputeSoft provides software project failure services to law firms engaged in complex software disputes.

    SEE SOFTWARE PROJECT FAILURE SERVICES