But Continental may still be liable for damages after the court said the firm still bore civil responsibility.
"If some company is extremely negligent in the way they handle data, they could be liable for damages, " says Allen.
An issue of contention has been whether the industry ought to be liable for punitive damages.
At the very least, KPMG is almost certainly going to have to return the audit fees, amounting to tens of millions of dollars, and the firm may be liable for other damages if the courts determine that the firm was in any way derelict in monitoring and supervising Mr. London, who was in charge of some 50 audit partners and 500 employees.
Ministers also said legislation would be introduced next month to ensure that businesses will only be held liable for civil damages in health and safety cases if they can be shown to have acted negligently.
And a separate bill, the Crime and Courts Bill, will have amendments ensuring that newspapers who refused to join the new regulatory regime would be potentially liable for exemplary damages if a claim was upheld against them.
Certainly BP and the other companies involved should be liable, but for actual damages.
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This would ensure that newspapers who refuse to join the new regulatory regime will be liable - potentially - for exemplary damages if a claim is upheld against them.
In asking the Supreme Court to review the issue, Wal-Mart said the appeals court misapplied the standards for defining a class of plaintiffs, exposing it to punitive damages when it should be liable only for back pay.
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Neither party shall be liable for any indirect, special or consequential damages.
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If Apple is found to be liable, the company could face claims for damages in separate proceedings from a group of states that joined the Justice Department in the 2012 antitrust suit.
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"The Commission believes that it is not liable for the alleged damages and that the court will conclude that the action must be rejected, " a spokeswoman said.
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