AtPac Inc. filed suit against the county, Clerk-Recorder Greg Diaz and Florida software firm Aptitude Solutions in Sacramento federal court in February 2010, claiming the loss of its intellectual property when Nevada County's Clerk-Recorder's office was switching software providers from AtPac to Aptitude in 2009.
The lawsuit is ongoing, and to date, the county has spent more than $1.2 million on outside legal counsel to defend the case, which is scheduled to go to trial this fall. Oral arguments for AtPac's motion to find summary judgment in its favor — without going to trial — are scheduled for Tuesday in Sacramento.
In April, federal Judge William Shubb sanctioned Nevada County for scrubbing — erasing all information — a computer server in October of last year. The server contained information on the transfer of county data from AtPac to Aptitude — information material to the case, according to AtPac's legal team.
“The spoliation (destruction), combined with other deceptive discovery practices by defendants, indicates that without some sort of sanction, a fair and just resolution of the action will be impossible,” Shubb wrote in an April order issued in the case.