new contract required for new end user October 23, 2018

KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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new contract required for new end user
October 23, 2018
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new contract required for new end user
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Ken, 
    Gentlemen calls us and notifies he has evicted the person (partner I guess) who was running the business which is monitored thru us. He sent us the copy of eviction notice (signed by him, no court seal etc), we spoke to the PD officer who was on site and confirmed. Is that sufficient paperwork to prove ownership? Should we get new monitoring agreement signed by this new guy (who claims to be the owner) or just update the contacts as per his request and help him change codes? 
    We utilize your All in One Agreements. 
Please use this email name withheld. 
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Response
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    Disputes between business partners and domestic partners often puts the alarm company in the middle. Someone wants to change codes and swear you to secrecy so the other person is excluded. The problem arises when it's the other person who signed the contract, and even worse, makes the payments.
    Your role is not as arbitor of the dispute or to determine the respective rights of the parties. Your role is to preserve the account. You do that by cooperating as best you can without exposing yourself to liability. First rule of thumb is likely that the less involved you have the better. Don't set up meetings; don't call for conferences; don't try and referee. 
    In most cases you are safe taking instruction from the end user actually in possession; the one using the alarm system. It's that person you need under contract, and the dispute is a good time to get a new contract signed.
    Sure, if the party to be excluded has a contract and tells you that the party intends to keep paying for the contract and insists that you perform under the contract, which means not change passcodes and exclude the party, you may have to consider simply performing the existing contract, as long as it's not in default. Once it is in default you are free to terminate it and get a new contract signed.
    In business disputes it's essential to have the end user entity sign the contract. That person should have authority to bind the entity. Once bound, it should not be necessary to get another person to ratify the contract or require a new contract. However, it would also be an opportune time to get a new contract signed, especially if the new person who is the entity contact is now requesting a new Call List or change in passcode. Better to have the person remaining in charge on the contract so there can't be a claim that original person signing the contract had no authority, or that the new person is not even aware of any written contract. 
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
516 747 6700
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com