HUNTINGTON BEACH : City Sues McDonnell Over Computer Pact
The city has filed a lawsuit claiming that McDonnell Douglas Corp. failed to fulfill terms of a $2.5-million computer contract for advanced police and fire dispatch systems.
Attorneys for Huntington Beach claim that the city contracted with McDonnell Douglas in December, 1988, to buy computer systems, custom software and maintenance for a new computer-aided dispatch system for the city’s fire and police departments.
The city paid about $2.5 million for the systems, with the understanding that St. Louis-based McDonnell Douglas would buy back the computer system if the company stopped manufacturing computers within five years.
The city wanted such an assurance because “we were afraid they might go out of business and then we would have no way to get parts,” said Arthur J. Folger, Huntington Beach deputy city attorney.
McDonnell Douglas sold its computer manufacturing division about a year ago, and the city wanted to get its money back, Folger said. City attorneys said the police and fire departments still use the system purchased in 1988.
McDonnell Douglas officials declined Thursday to comment on the lawsuit, which was filed earlier this week in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana.
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