UPI

Hearing on medical Y2K compliance Wednesday, 28 April 1999 1:33 (GMT) (UPI Spotlight) Hearing on medical Y2K compliance WASHINGTON, April 27 (UPI) - Three government officials told a congressional hearing today that patients relying on some medical equipment for their survival may be at risk next New Year's Day. They said despite the claims of manufacturers that their medical devices are immune to the Y2K bug, the federal government has not tested those claims to be sure the equipment actually is safe.

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Link

Senate Debates Bill To Limit Y2K Lawsuits

By Adam Entous

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Torn between big business and consumer advocates, members of the U.S. Senate sparred Tuesday over legislation to protect companies and their top executives from lawsuits over the year 2000 computer problem.

Most Republicans support the bill, by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain, which would prevent the filing of year 2000 computer bug lawsuits during a 90-day cooling-off period, cap punitive damages and limit the liability of company executives in millennium bug cases.

Backed by politically powerful computer makers and software companies, banks, and manufacturers, McCain of Arizona and other Republicans argued that the bill was needed to avert a flood of year 2000 computer lawsuits. According to some experts, litigation costs alone could add up to $1 trillion.

``Make no mistake about it, this superlitigation threat is real, and if it substantially interferes with the computer industry's ongoing Y2K repair efforts, the consequences for America could be disastrous,'' Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, said.

But most Senate Democrats, under pressure from trial lawyers and consumer advocates, said they were opposed to the bill because it would curb the rights of computer users to sue companies if their systems crash next Jan. 1. Specifically, Democrats oppose provisions capping punitive damages at $250,000 for many businesses and limiting the liability of top executives to $100,000.

``I'm doing my best to kill the bill,'' South Carolina Sen. Ernest Hollings, the Commerce Committee's ranking Democrat, told reporters. He accused McCain and other Republicans of kowtowing to high-tech business interests to ``get contributions from Silicon Valley.''

The millennium bug, often referred to as the Y2K (for year 2000) bug, arises because many older computers record dates using only the last two digits of the year. If left uncorrected, such systems could treat 2000 as 1900, generating errors or system crashes next Jan. 1. *DUH*

Fearing a flood of frivolous lawsuits, business groups representing IBM, Microsoft, AT&T Corp. (NYSE:T - news) and other high-tech companies asked Congress to set limits.

McCain agreed to change some of the bill's provisions to give more protection to consumers in court. In so doing, he won the support of Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden and a few other Democrats.

``We're making progress,'' Wyden said after talks between Republican and Democratic leaders. ``What I sense is a centrist coalition emerging here that wants to address this now rather than wait for potential chaos in January and to do it in a way that is fair to consumers.''

At Wyden's urging, McCain's bill would lift the punitive damage caps in cases of fraud. For other Y2K lawsuits, however, the caps would remain in place.

Under the Wyden-McCain compromise, if a company refused to address a serious Y2K-related problem, its consumers could file suit after 30 days rather than wait through the full 90-day cooling-off period.

McCain agreed to remove a provision that would have protected companies as long as they made a ``reasonable effort'' to fix a Y2K problem. The bill would also shield government entities from punitive damages.

But Hollings and other Democrats were not satisfied. They want the caps dropped and are demanding other changes.

Nevertheless, business lobbyists remained optimistic McCain's bill would pass the Republican-controlled Senate later this week with some Democratic support.

``We're really working hard to get Democrats on the bill,'' said Jan Amundson, general counsel of the National Association of Manufacturers. ``We think we're turning the corner on many of them.''

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'superlitigation' gotta love that word. ;-)

Have a good day!

-- Deborah (infowars@yahoo.com), April 28, 1999

Answers

Now Y2k is a partisan issue. Why am I not surprised?

-- regular (zzz@z.z), April 28, 1999.

If The government and corporations are doing so well on their y2k remediation and readiness why are they so worried about litigation anyway? This seems to be where the happy talk and reassurance run into the wall...

-- mb (mdbutler@coastalnet.com), April 28, 1999.

Seems weird that the "politically powerful computer makers and software companies, banks, and manufacturers," are sooooo worried about "Y2K litigation" if it's only going to be "a bump in the road".

``Make no mistake about it, this superlitigation threat is real, and if it substantially interferes with the computer industry's ongoing Y2K repair efforts, the consequences for America could be disastrous,'' They tell us Y2K will not be disastrous, but the litigation surrounding it will be??? What am I missing? HELLO????

-- Sheila (sross@bconnex.net), April 28, 1999.

As you can see in this quote from the artical :"Fearing a flood of frivolous lawsuits," the way your questions would be answered would be that people would pretend to have y2k problems in order to sue. Again y2k isn't the problem --

This was my local power companies answer to consumer legislation in my state. 'Horror of horrors, irresponsible consumers will just stop paying their bills, pretending it is due to y2k' We the people that faithfully pay our bills for services rendered making them rich and powerful should not be allowed protection. It is really so disgusting. It makes me want to go off the grid.

-- Deborah (infowars@yahoo.com), April 28, 1999.

Sheila

Hellloo - It is right up there with the part about we're OK but the rest of the world is going to hell in a handbasket. But we're just going to have a "bump in the road". The gov and the sheeple just don't get the fact that Y2K and interconnectiveness are synonymous and if the rest of the world is in hell's handbasket, we are right there with them. Grrr!

-- Valkyrie (anon@please.net), April 28, 1999.

But for those who pooh-pooh the Y2K scare as end-of-millennium hysteria, a needless worry, Dufek shrugs and shakes his head.

"There were just thousands and thousands of bugs that had to be weeded out," Dufek explained in his sun-filled conference room near the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport. "There is no question that every major application we have would have failed. Absolutely no question about it."

http://www.freep.com/news/airtravel/qnwa27.htm

So much for the "No Problem With The Airlines" line....

I hope they all started as early as Northwest.

-- mb (mdbutler@coastalnet.com), April 28, 1999.