FC: Y2K backlash begins: Consultants sued for exaggerating risk

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

*******

> From: terstec1 () webtv net
> Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2000 01:17:26 -0800 (PST)
>
> This an interesting development from: 
>
> Independent News of the UK
>
>
> Y2K consultants sued by firm for exaggerating risk
>
>
> By Robert Verkaik, Legal Affairs Correspondent  
>
> 11 January 2000 
>
> The first legal action has been started against computer experts for
> allegedly exaggerating the threat posed by the millennium bug. Lawyers
> believe the case could be the start of a backlash against the Y2K
> prophets of doom. 
> British business invested £20bn in making computer systems millennium
> compliant. But as the ineffectiveness of the millennium bug becomes more
> apparent, chief executives are turning to their lawyers to find ways of
> recouping their investment from IT companies who may have done
> unnecessary compliance work. 
> This first case involves a leading British electronics company, which
> was told by IT consultants that its computer systems were not millennium
> compliant. The consultants recommended installing a brand new system. 
> But after the company had signed the contract, the consultants doubled
> their fee from £200,000 to £400,000, informed the company that the
> problem was more serious than they first thought and that they would not
> be able to meet the first deadline in October. 
> Several months before the start of the new millennium the company had
> doubts about the work being carried out, and instructed its in-house IT
> experts to come up with an alternative solution. Weeks before the new
> year, the company's own team developed a much cheaper solution, which
> only required upgrading the existing systems. 
> The company has instructed a leading IT law firm, Masons, to sue the
> consultants for misrepresentation and breach of contract.
[...]




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