I heard of an anecdotal story of a women named Sue Marcello who used her credit card to buy groceries. Her card's expiration date was 00. Allegedly the store's computer system malfunctioned as a result of that date. I also heard that the store is sueing her over the matter. Does anyone have any confirmation or reference to this case?

Dave Letcher letcher@tcnj.edu

-- David W. Letcher (letcher@tcnj.edu), November 20, 1998

Answers

Dave,

I've never heard of this case, but that would be a weird case of finger-pointing.

There is a website called "Year 2000 lawsuits that have been filed." Here's the link:

http://www.thefederation.org/Public/Y2K/lawsuits.htm

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), November 20, 1998.

Dave,

I'll bet that the anecdotal story you heard was a distorted version of the real first Y2K lawsuit. It's described on the site that Kevin has noted (Thanks, Kevin - that's a handy reference!):

Produce Palace International v. TEC-America Corp.

To summarize, when customers' cards with expirations in or after 2000 caused Produce Palace's systems to lock up, Produce Palace sued the manufacturer and installer of its computer system. Produce Palace did not sue any customer.

This case has been settled, in Produce Palace's favor, for $260,000.

-- No Spam Please (anon@ymous.com), November 20, 1998.