Accusystems v. Honeywell Information Systems

Citation: ''Accusystems, Inc. v. Honeywell Info. Sys., Inc.,'' 580 F. Supp. 474 (S.D.N.Y. 1984).

Factual Background
Plaintiffs, AccuSystems and its founder, William M. Selden, sought damages for fraud, negligence, and breach of contract arising from the sale of computer hardware and software by defendant, Honeywell Information Systems.

Trial Court Decision
Defendant filed a motion for summary judgment but it was only granted for the contract claim and was denied for the negligence and fraud claims that were subsequently tried. The court found that New York law governed the action and thus did not recognize the claim for negligent misrepresentation as the relationship between the two parties did not entail the degree of trust required to support such a claim.

With respect to the negligence claim, the court found that Honeywell was not negligent in its dealings with plaintiff after the agreement was entered into. Although plaintiffs complained that the support by Honeywell was inadequate, there was evidence that Selden had told Honeywell representatives otherwise.

With respect to the fraud claim, the court found for the plaintiff, holding that there was enough evidence to suggest that Honeywell knowingly made false statements to AccuSystems to induce them into entering the agreement. Judgment was entered for the plaintiff, entitling plaintiff to recover its actual loses from such fraud. However, plaintiff would not be allowed to recover punitive damages based on the lack of malicious intent.

An additional hearing was granted to determine damages for plaintiff.