republic-os/legal/us/code/title-15/chapter-92/section-6612.md

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LegalText	15 U.S.C. § 6612	State of mind; bystander liability; control	us	united_states_code	code_section	15	COMMERCE AND TRADE	92	YEAR 2000 COMPUTER DATE CHANGE	6612	15 U.S.C. § 6612	current	119-100	2026-06-26	official	https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc15@119-100.zip	/us/usc/t15/s6612	data/legal/raw/us/code/title-15/usc15.xml	c6c3de12a30a8443121ae069703151a0b200b62106b2d7fa741f2cc81486d781	6982338d990ef19d6b52bff6825089bdd6d0ee1233d9382673faf533decd5059	85a1766652d816ac63bc18c4481b49d02652fceddcae72e9dc5e3c1d4620d3a1	2026-07-04	official	legal us-code

15 U.S.C. § 6612 - State of mind; bystander liability; control

Text

(a) Defendant’s state of mind In a Y2K action other than a claim for breach or repudiation of contract, and in which the defendant’s actual or constructive awareness of an actual or potential Y2K failure is an element of the claim, the defendant is not liable unless the plaintiff establishes that element of the claim by the standard of evidence under applicable State law in effect on the day before January 1, 1999.

(b) Limitation on bystander liability for Y2K failures (1) In general With respect to any Y2K action for money damages in which—

(A) the defendant is not the manufacturer, seller, or distributor of a product, or the provider of a service, that suffers or causes the Y2K failure at issue;

(B) the plaintiff is not in substantial privity with the defendant; and

(C) the defendant’s actual or constructive awareness of an actual or potential Y2K failure is an element of the claim under applicable law,

the defendant shall not be liable unless the plaintiff, in addition to establishing all other requisite elements of the claim, proves, by the standard of evidence under applicable State law in effect on the day before January 1, 1999, that the defendant actually knew, or recklessly disregarded a known and substantial risk, that such failure would occur.

(2) Substantial privity For purposes of paragraph (1)(B), a plaintiff and a defendant are in substantial privity when, in a Y2K action arising out of the performance of professional services, the plaintiff and the defendant either have contractual relations with one another or the plaintiff is a person who, prior to the defendant’s performance of such services, was specifically identified to and acknowledged by the defendant as a person for whose special benefit the services were being performed.

(3) Certain claims excluded For purposes of paragraph (1)(C), claims in which the defendant’s actual or constructive awareness of an actual or potential Y2K failure is an element of the claim under applicable law do not include claims for negligence but do include claims such as fraud, constructive fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, negligent misrepresentation, and interference with contract or economic advantage.

(c) Control not determinative of liability The fact that a Y2K failure occurred in an entity, facility, system, product, or component that was sold, leased, rented, or otherwise within the control of the party against whom a claim is asserted in a Y2K action shall not constitute the sole basis for recovery of damages in that action. A claim in a Y2K action for breach or repudiation of contract for such a failure is governed by the terms of the contract.

(d) Protections of the Year 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act apply The protections for the exchanges of information provided by section 4 of the Year 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act (Public Law 105–271) shall apply to any Y2K action.

(Pub. L. 106–37, § 13, July 20, 1999, 113 Stat. 200.)

Notes

Editorial Notes

References in TextSection 4 of the Year 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act, referred to in subsec. (d), is section 4 of Pub. L. 105–271, which was formerly set out in a note under section 1 of this title.