Vendors Defeat Y2K Claims

Andersen Consulting and accounting software vendor Macola Inc. have separately announced victories in year 2000 legal disputes.

Andersen announced today that, following a mediator's review, former client J. Baker Inc. has dropped its year 2000 claim against the systems integrator. J. Baker had asserted that Andersen was responsible for the year 2000 remediation costs of a merchandising system that Andersen implemented for the retailer in the early 1990s. Andersen went to court for a ruling that it had fulfilled its contractual obligations to J. Baker and was not liable for its year 2000 problems. J. Baker now agrees that Andersen met its contractual obligations, and Andersen is withdrawing its legal action.

Separately, a lawsuit seeking free year 2000 fixes for Macola Progression Series accounting software version 6.0, and reimbursement for upgrades to year 2000-compliant versions 6.2 and 7.0, was dismissed in an Ohio Common Pleas Court, according to a statement issued by Macola on Friday.

Paragon Networks International, a telecommunications equipment vendor in Southbury, Conn., sued Macola last April. The lawsuit claimed that the Paragon, which purchased version 6.0 in 1995, suffered from a breach of express warranty and fraud by Macola because that version of its software was not year 2000 compliant. A basis for the complaint was that Macola's credo is that it makes "software you'll never outgrow."

The judge held that the terms of Paragon's license agreement with Macola did not support the breach of express warranty or fraud claims, according to a Macola attorney.

Paragon and its attorney did not return calls.