Accenture files motion to dismiss Hertz's lawsuit in its entirety

Accenture has filed a motion to dismiss Hertz's claim under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair trade Practices Act and is intending to assert counterclaims for payment of "past-due invoices", according to its court filing to the US district judge.While Hertz lawsuit alleged breach of contract, the filing by Accenture states that it does not state any reason why Accenture’s actions were unfair and deceptive, and should therefore, be dismissed in its entirety. Additionally, Accenture is making counterclaims for invoices that Hertz deemed not obligated to pay due to perceived deficiencies in its work on "earlier phases of the project", but unrelated to the services provided under the invoices in question.Accenture also highlighted its intention to dismiss claims and damages outside of the parties' contractual obligations. The attorney for Accenture states that damages should be capped at fees or expenses Accenture received in connection with applicable scope of work and the company “shall not be held liable for any consequential, incidental, indirect or punitive damages”.The filing by Accenture noted that the phase one of the project between the two companies had proceeded relatively smoothly, while phase two encountered "some delays and setbacks". Phase two also say multiple changes made to scope of work, including additional services required by Hertz. Accenture reiterated its disagreement that it had failed to provide any services required by the scope of work.The lawsuits first saw media coverage in April when Hertz Corporation sued Accenture for breach of contract by failing to deliver a functional website or mobile app. According to the lawsuit filed by Hertz to the US district court of the southern district of New York seen by Marketing, the lawsuit stated that Accenture began work on the execution phase of the project in August 2016 until its services were terminated in May 2018. The document said that during that period of time, Hertz paid Accenture more than US$32 million in fees and expenses but the latter did not deliver as it “failed” to properly manage and perform the service.It detailed that the go-live date for both the website and mobile app was postponed twice – January and April 2018. The lawsuit stated that by then, Hertz “no longer had any confidence” that Accenture was capable of completing the project. It added that Accenture’s work was “seriously deficient” in multiple areas.Read more: Droga5 acquisition by Accenture Interactive ‘biggest’ since its founding Accenture: Evolving attitudes toward digital and brands will fuel the next creative revolution