Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System licensed "a broad range" of business applications from Lawson in 2001, paying an initial price of US$1.4 million, as well as ongoing maintenance fees, according to the complaint filed last month in U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.

Lawson has told SCLHS that as of May 2010, it will no longer support a pair of applications in the suite, the document states. One application is used to track employee vacation time and sick leave, while the other is for managing medical supply inventory, according to the filing.

Both applications are "critical" to SCLHS' operations, the filing states.

A clause in SCLHS' original agreement with Lawson says that during the product suite's support period, SCLHS could exchange applications for other Lawson products with similar features and functions "as reasonably determined by Lawson" and pay only a nominal fee, according to the filing.

Lawson has two newer applications that are similar to the older ones but also have other functions, according to the filing.