Marin County first sued Deloitte in May 2010 in state court, alleging that it placed inexperienced consultants on the SAP project, leading to serious problems that derailed the implementation.

It later filed a separate state case that also named SAP. In that suit, which was removed to federal court, Marin County alleged with Deloitte that violated the US RICO (racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations) statute and was meant to defraud the county of more than US$20 million.

In a court filing last month, Marin County maintained it was required by law to bring the RICO allegations through a separate suit.

"Moreover, the County intends to prosecute this RICO action -- and vindicate the rights of its constituents to a vendor process untainted by the kind of criminal corruption in which Deloitte and its co-defendants engaged -- before a jury," the county said.

Deloitte and Marin County's original contract specified that matters "involving disputes of fact or law relating to" Deloitte's work for the county would be settled by retired California judge John Herlihy, who serves as a "referee" on state cases, according to a motion filed late June 24 by Deloitte in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.