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To: long-gone who wrote (39060)	8/16/1999 12:05:00 AM
From: C.K. Houston	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116906

Richard, <<<Morgan Stanley Dean Witter is being sued over the Y2K readiness of a company it helped sell ... Charged with fraud. Though the number of Y2K suits is still minuscule, the dark clouds of litigation are billowing on the horizon. In fact, they've already closed in on Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., which in a suit before a Pittsburgh federal court is being accused of misrepresenting the Y2K-readiness of a company that then-independent Dean Witter Reynolds Inc. helped sell in 1996 ...>>> <I guess one must bring suit prior to 1-1-2000 of not at all.> No. That's not the case. As I mentioned I had dinner in NYC with Cathleen [quoted in that article]. What was happening was that some companies already knew they had Y2K problems that they didn't fix. Or couldn't, or weren't willing to fix. So, they decided to sell. And sold to buyers who weren't aware of Y2K problems at that-point-in-time. Underwriters may or may not have known of the problem. My guess is that they already knew, but discounted it. Remember ... here we were ... 2 gals talking about this in late '97 over dinner. One is a partner for one in one of the top 100 law firms in U.S. [and probably the top "Y2K legal embedded system" person in U.S.] - and me. If we knew about it. DUH - These guys knew about it too. The problem is primarily companies sold, and deals made, prior to and in '97 and early '98. Because now awareness is so open and public ... that "Y2K embedded systems" issues are in contracts. Weren't there before. Sooooooooo ... You're looking at companies sold and deals made in the '96-'98 timeframe ... with inventory and/or systems which were not Y2K compliant. And it was hidden or discounted. Unless you had an attorney (and there were very few then) who understood this stuff ... you were buying a lemon. A cash cow, that was gonna drain you and saddle you with Y2K liability. Cheryl P.S. Last year I knew of a state teachers pension fund with $10+ billion in assets, which was planning on selling their "Y2K problem child(ren)" to some chumps. That's what the article is about. It's harder to do it now. But in '97 and '98, many did it.