At 8:30 AM -0500 3/11/05, dhbailey wrote:
(In reply to my thesis that a corporate principal might be found liable for actions taken that deprive a litigating class of their source of income:)
The license you agree to when you use the software (even the pre-tethered versions) states pretty clearly that the company is NOT responsible for any loss of income, nor is the product guaranteed to work at all for any purpose.
Please carefully re-read my original message.
I did not posit _corporate_ liability resulting from the users' inability to make use of the software should the _corporation_ declare bankruptcy.
The user-license may (or may not) absolve the corporation from liability for lost income. The strictures encoded in bankruptcy law would almost certainly do so.
My thesis was that corporate officers, or other principals with corporate authority, might be found __personally__ liable for the lost income of an affected class which suffered due to their decisions.
This thesis is by no means far-fetched and is the reason why any marginally sane corporate officer carries a personal rider.
These riders are usually sufficient to cover liability decisions (however unwarranted) from minor claims.
But:
Being on the board of a corporation that owns a grocery store and breathing easy over a __personal__ lawsuit from a customer who fell down because an employee forgot to put out the "piso mojado" sign is a lot different from being sued by an entire class of affected users suffering lost income.
-=-Dennis
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