Alistair Maughan, a London partner with law firm Shaw Pittman of Washington, sees a big potential for lawsuits in Europe and Britain. At present, however, it is hard to predict either the volume of litigation which will result or the likelihood that suppliers of hardware and software will be found liable to compensate their customers who suffer loss. Maughan said litigants in the United States are targeting health providers as well as IT systems with medical, dental or pharmaceutical applications. Other likely targets are accounting firms and other professional services firms, corporate officers and directors and financial institutions. In this rash of lawsuits, Rigby said, some European companies are more vulnerable than their U.S. counterparts because of a failure of forethought by governments.
Companies can provide an honest appraisal of their ability to be free of millennium bug infection.
If the declarations were not made deceitfully or recklessly, they will not be liable to damages for Y2K failure. Rigby said most software licenses are supplied by U.S. companies and the small print says they are governed by U.S laws and jurisdiction. If these software companies have declared their Y2K compliance, European companies will have no grounds for suits if programs fail. That can't be right. They are effectively denying legal remedies to U.K. and European companies and individuals.