Dell in contempt of court

DELL is in trouble over the pond after a Judge ruled that the tinman was making a 'mockery of the system'.

Judge Rosemary Ledet was furious that Dell's legal team had a habit of producing documents in a piecemeal manner in a civil lawsuit over New Orleans' CCTV camera system.

As the gavel fell on Dell, Ledet ordered the hardware outfit to pay $25,000 in fines. The plaintiffs' attorneys have also requested nearly $182,000 in fees and expenses.

Southern Electronics Supply and Active Solutions sued in 2007, claiming the surveillance system they developed was misappropriated by people within and with ties to the city's technology department. They claimed that the techies were in a conspiracy with Dell to sell the system. Dell and the other defendants, including Mayor Ray Nagin have denied the claims.

Dell attorney Phillip Wittmann said that Dell was not dragging its feet or playing games in discovery. He said that more than 160,000 pages of documents have been produced, and that e-mails and other information have been handed over.

However Ledet said that Dell was not even doing basic word searches for the "camera" on its servers which might have shown emails and other documents between Dell executives, including its glorious CEO and founder Michael Dell.

Ledet ordered a search using specific words and said the sides can discuss how to proceed if the search yields a huge amount of records.

The matter is also being examined by the FBI which is looking into the city's technology office and crime camera contracts. µ