ABA Section of Business Law
Business Law Today
Volume 8, Number 1 - September/October 1998
This is a mini-theme issue on the Year 2000 problem.
Microsoft: IBM redux?
By ELIOT G. DISNER
Is its journey through the courts a bumpy road or just another bend on the information superhighway?
Getting ready
Where might your client find a Y2K problem?
By SHARON R. KLEIN and KARA W. SWANSON
How can you advise your client company to prepare for Y2K? Should it be looking at the warranties supplied with its software systems? Does the building your client is thinking of buying for her company include chips (for the parking-garage system, for example) with embedded problems? The author presents a number of issues that you should consider in preparing your client.
Insuring against catastophe
Underwriters should act now to prevent insolvency later
By DOUGLAS W. HAMMOND
When the Y2K problem hits, preparations taken by insurers today could pay extremely valuable returns when the claims start rolling in. Insurers should adopt strict underwriting standards relative to the extent to which their exposure can be prudently insured. Insurance companies should be prudent now so that they will not face insolvency by not properly preparing themselves for the century date change.
A healthy policy
What kind of insurance does your client company need against the Y2K bug?
By JAY W. EISENHOFER
The author addresses such questions as: Is legal redress available to companies that expends funds to cure the Millennium Bug? He also explores the kinds of insurance policies that are now available. How can companies recover if they have a loss as Y2K happens?
How Y2K could affect the supply chain
A problem for day-to-day contracts
By DONALD A. COHN and PAUL S. WITTMAN
If the company you're advising is engaged in the sale or licensing of software or software-dependent equipment as their primary line of business, how will they deal with the Year 2000 problem? Contracts should be amended and the entire supply chain (customers, suppliers) should be examined. How could failures affect commercial transactions?.
Addressing Y2K issues in M&A deals
A lesson in representations, warranties and indemnities
By BRETTE S. SIMON
When debt comes crashing down
Are ‘reaffirmation agreements' a good thing?
By ERNEST B. WILLIAMS IV
A young couple seems to think there's no tomorrow as they keep racking up more and more credit-card debt. But then tomorrow comes. Though they seek comfort in filing for bankruptcy, one or two of their creditors suggest that everything will be all right if they sign "reaffirmation agreements" reaffirming their pre-discharged debt. What do the courts say? Are reaffirmation agreements a good thing? And what does a committee of the ABA Section of Business Law say? The author covers it all.
When the deposit isn't made
Abuse of pension fund accounts is a crime
By JOHN W. LUNDQUIST and DEBRA J. LINDER
ERISA continues cracking down on pension-fund fraud. Their enforcement initiative means that there are indeed criminal pitfalls to wrongly administering employee pension accounts. The major goal of the government is to enforce the deposit of plan contributions. The fraud comes not necessarily when an executive simply absconds with the funds but more likely when a company sees the funds as a resource to help get them through tough times.
This is a mini-theme issue on the Year 2000 problem.
Microsoft: IBM redux?By ELIOT G. DISNER
Is its journey through the courts a bumpy road or just another bend on the information superhighway?
Getting ready
Where might your client find a Y2K problem?
By SHARON R. KLEIN and KARA W. SWANSON
How can you advise your client company to prepare for Y2K? Should it be looking at the warranties supplied with its software systems? Does the building your client is thinking of buying for her company include chips (for the parking-garage system, for example) with embedded problems? The author presents a number of issues that you should consider in preparing your client.
Insuring against catastophe
Underwriters should act now to prevent insolvency later
By DOUGLAS W. HAMMOND
When the Y2K problem hits, preparations taken by insurers today could pay extremely valuable returns when the claims start rolling in. Insurers should adopt strict underwriting standards relative to the extent to which their exposure can be prudently insured. Insurance companies should be prudent now so that they will not face insolvency by not properly preparing themselves for the century date change.
A healthy policy
What kind of insurance does your client company need against the Y2K bug?
By JAY W. EISENHOFER
The author addresses such questions as: Is legal redress available to companies that expends funds to cure the Millennium Bug? He also explores the kinds of insurance policies that are now available. How can companies recover if they have a loss as Y2K happens?
How Y2K could affect the supply chain
A problem for day-to-day contracts
By DONALD A. COHN and PAUL S. WITTMAN
If the company you're advising is engaged in the sale or licensing of software or software-dependent equipment as their primary line of business, how will they deal with the Year 2000 problem? Contracts should be amended and the entire supply chain (customers, suppliers) should be examined. How could failures affect commercial transactions?.
Addressing Y2K issues in M&A deals
A lesson in representations, warranties and indemnities
By BRETTE S. SIMON
When debt comes crashing down
Are ‘reaffirmation agreements' a good thing?
By ERNEST B. WILLIAMS IV
A young couple seems to think there's no tomorrow as they keep racking up more and more credit-card debt. But then tomorrow comes. Though they seek comfort in filing for bankruptcy, one or two of their creditors suggest that everything will be all right if they sign "reaffirmation agreements" reaffirming their pre-discharged debt. What do the courts say? Are reaffirmation agreements a good thing? And what does a committee of the ABA Section of Business Law say? The author covers it all.
When the deposit isn't made
Abuse of pension fund accounts is a crime
By JOHN W. LUNDQUIST and DEBRA J. LINDER
ERISA continues cracking down on pension-fund fraud. Their enforcement initiative means that there are indeed criminal pitfalls to wrongly administering employee pension accounts. The major goal of the government is to enforce the deposit of plan contributions. The fraud comes not necessarily when an executive simply absconds with the funds but more likely when a company sees the funds as a resource to help get them through tough times.
