About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

24 Alaska B. Rag 1 (2000)

handle is hein.barjournals/askabar0024 and id is 1 raw text is: Inside: IRATE LETTERS PROUFERATE DIAMOND KNUCKLE MYSTERY SOLVED ONLINE AUCTION ADDICTION LAW & THE FOREIGN PRESS $3.00 JANUARY - FEBRUARY, 2000 VOLUME 24, NO. 1 No major Y2K glitches but issues still remain i twos to bring law firmas$1 trillion dollarsofbusiness in the new century. The date rollover to 2000 has con' ond gonw, and now litigation opportunities are up in smoke. Or are they? By most accounts, the much-feared Y2K computer problem was the biggest bust of the millennium. No major catastrophic eventsoccurred-in public utilities, financial systems, public safety and civil defense, orbig husiness. But the jury's still out onY2K's long.term impact. Andarisingfrom the ashes are many unknowns. For one thing, glitches continue to be reported- and rapidly fixed: The failure for three days of U.S. satellites over the New Year weekend. E-mail system failures in Moscow's Kremlin. Odd dates on websites, showing te year as 19100 (even on Al Gore's Internet Town I loll). Cash registers (30,000 of them) failing in Greece. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange websito reporting the date as .lanuary 1, 1900. The Bureau of Alcohol,Tobaccoand Iirearms'electronicgun licensing and registration service going offmine. Inaccessibility of 110,000 online bank accounts in Sweden. And likely thousands orother unreported failures that analysts elieve wall cnttinue throughout the firstaluarler of the year. Reported to date are principally small or easily fixed failures that are expected to offer little opportunity for lawyers. But rising from the perceived non-eventare several potential legal issues, with insurance claims percolating to the toIp of the list. 'rhe Inl'ormationTechnology Association oAmerica ind Law News Network reported the week of Jan. 10 that insurers may expect a rash of lawsuits based on sue-and-labor clauses in business policies. It's an ironic outcome to the estimated $300 to $600 billion in preparation costs the U.S. invested to prevent Y2K failure: corporations are expected to ile claims to recover their Y2K expenses, while insurers are likely to deny coverage. Tom Brunner, of the Washington, D.C. law firm of Wiley Rein & Fielding, says this cost recovery strategy is a square peg in a round hole. For the sue and labor clause to come into play, an effort has to be made to avoid a loss covered by a policy. Y2K expenditures were not made to avoid loss, he argues; they were made for business continuity reasons. Brunner's firm defends insurance companies; he serves as counsel to the Insurer's Yesr 2000 Roundtable in the capital. Law News Network suggests another insurance defense : With date change having a mostly minor impncton technology, it will be harder for policyholders to prove the necessity of theirYear 2000 expenditures. Even so, a number of actions have already been filed seeking cost recovery. Plaintiffs include Xerox, GTE, Unisys, Nike, K-Mart, IT and the Port of Seattle. Another area ripe for dispute is breach ofwarranty claims against software and technology companies. Y2K legislation passed by Congress last year requires plaintiffs togive notice ofintended action todefendants, and requires mediation before these actions may proceed to courL Alaska statutes that preceded federal legislation also incorporate this protection for tech companies. Plaintiffs also are expected to attempt recovery of remedintion costs from toch vendors in cash and discounts on future goods and services. And on Jan. 11, a London newspaper reported that *a leading British electronics company filed suit against its IT consultant for exaggerating the threat of Y2K. While Y2K-relnted law firms are agreeing that Continued on page II NOT!? Million dollar gift launches School of Law Alaska Program eattle University has re- ceived a $1 million gift to launch a scholarship program for Alaska students desiring to study law at the Seattle University School of Law. George and Mary Sundborg, the parents of Fa- ther Stephen V. Sundborg, S.J., president, and former longtime residents of Alaska, contributed the $1 million.A $750,000 gift to the School of Law and another $250,000 to the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus will assist Alaska stu- dents desiring to study law at Seattle University. The Sundborgs lived in Alaska for 26 years where George was the editor of newspapers at Juneau and Fairbanks. lie was also the general manager of the Alaska Development Board, executive assistant to the Governor, administrative as- sistant to Senator Ernest Gruening, and an elected del- egate to the Alaska Consti. tutional Convention in 1955- 56. Each of the Sundborgs five children was raised in Alaska and one son, George Sundborg, Jr., lives in Fairbanks, as do four grand- children and seven great grandchildren. The Sundberg gift is be- ing used to further the goals Continued on page 23 AM. Ow Asse h100[ l' ofi M0.eien P.. 0.3 Move U. PoUlg. P.M *mliwpMinUS~lOPe o No. 401 Amhrn., A1M

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most