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Lawyer Vito Perainoi warns of a litigation fireball that will follow the disasters of the year 2000. Corporations and their directors will be sued. He warns Congress that "the Year 2000 problem may present the biggest litigation wave our Country has ever seen." He made this statement on March 20, 1997.
So, if we get through y2k with the economy intact, the courts will be jammed with multi-million dollar law suits. (A collapse in this sense has at least some advantages!)
Corporations must disclose their costs of repairing the code soon or else risk being sued. This will create huge losses in 1998 and 1999. These losses must be incurred in the year the occur. They may not be amortized, according to the Financial Accounting Standards Board, which sets the accounting rules. Will Congress intervene and change this rule? If not, what happens to the stock market? The bond market (corporate downgrading)?
His warning is scary: ". . . the Year 2000 problem undermines the integrity of financial information." He singles out banks.
In short, if we get through the potential economic disaster, we will face a litigation disaster. There is no way out.
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