Affirming a nearly $19 million jury award, a Missouri appellate court sided with a software company that spent extra time fixing glitches in an administrative program, finding it was beyond the scope of work outlined in a contract with the state.

The Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District sided with the plaintiff, EngagePoint and HHS Technology Group Holdings, in a dispute involving the Missouri Eligibility Determination and Enrollment System (MEDES). EngagePoint, which served as the prime contractor for the state's MEDES project, sued the state claiming it was wrongfully demoted from the position. After a jury awarded $18.9 million in EngagePoint's favor for the extra work it claimed to have completed, the state appealed, arguing that, among other things, the Cole County Circuit Court erred in approving the jury award because payment for extra work/constructive changes was outside of the parties' contract, according to the Tuesday opinion.