MercuryGate Countersues J.B. Hunt for $5 Million
MercuryGate International has countersued J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. for $5 million as part of a disagreement over the effectiveness of an information technology system MercuryGate sold the motor carrier to support its brokerage unit.
In July, Hunt first sued the IT company for $3.1 million, claiming the vendor's system was essentially ineffective.
Hunt, which ranks No. 3 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers, called the software “virtually useless for all excepting approximately 1%” of the business it was supposed to support at the carrier’s brokerage unit.
MercuryGate said it had never before had a claim like Hunt's and suggested that Hunt used the software to facilitate a rewrite of its IT system over the two years Hunt had it.
“Our track record speaks for itself,” MercuryGate CEO Monica Wooden told Transport Topics. “We have been delivering transportation software to the logistics market for many years. We have never had a claim like this.”
“If business users want something different, so be it,” she added. “That’s a business decision on their part. Over the years, the software has been impeccable.”
Hunt did not respond for requests for additional details.
