Quack, your analogy is good but for one thing. 'You hired a professional consultant to manage the QC for you as you wanted an independent third party opinion'.

Clearly the lawyers will be looking to this person to confirm when she informed management of her concerns. You can bet your professional liablility insurance that the QC firm is getting their ducks lined up for when the lawyers call. Don't expect NOT to tell you when they knew, go to the source and that could in fact be done by any of us probably through the professional regulatory body.

BB