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SCANNING AND RETAINING OLD CONTRACTS
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Ken
    Are we required to keep hard copies of Canceled customer contracts? We have tons and tons of filing cabinets from canceled customers and I was wondering if we could just have a PDF scan of the contracts instead of storing them (and just shred after we scan them)….again this would be for canceled contracts only.
Thank you!
David
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RESPONSE
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    You can be sued directly for a loss for many years after the event.  The statute of limitations vary by jurisdiction but most likely runs 3 to 4 years.  You can shorten the statute of limitations by contract.  The Standard Form Agreement shortens the time to bring suit to 1 year.  One problem however is that third parties may being you into an action years after the event and years after the statute of limitations has run.  As long as the third party was sued within the statute of limitation period you can be brought in as a third party defendant because your involvement in the lawsuit will "relate back" to the date when the suit was initially started, even though you weren't named by the Plaintiff in the action.  Your exposure in such situation will only be to the defendant who brings you in, not to the Plaintiff who failed to name you originally in the action within your statute of limitations.
    Whoa, hope I got that right.  Now to answer the question.  You can scan the contract and other records.   Be very careful to scan the entire document.  So if you decide to scan 1000 old contracts and every one of them has the same back page you will be tempted to scan only the front page.  Don't.  Same for repair records and other documents that may be needed later for a defense.  I say defense because I can't think of any other reason to keep the contracts.  If it's defense that motivates you, and it should, then you need to be sure that your efforts to preserve the documents will be rewarded by having them admitted into evidence in a lawsuit should that become necessary.  
    Not only should you scan the entire document but you should have a written office policy regarding preserving the records and whoever is doing the scanning should keep records of what preserving was done and how it was done.  Keep in mind that when you need to admit the scanned documents into evidence the person who did the scanning may no longer work for you or be available.  An office record, maintained as a business record, would be admissible as evidence and then establish the foundation for admitting the document that you wish to rely on, typically the contract or service record or alarm activity report.
    You can retain copies or originals.
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which contract needed
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Ken,
    I have been receiving your emails for long time.  An employee recently fell and was injured on a job and our workers compensation carrier canceled my policy due to loss runs.  That made me look at all my insurance information. I noticed we have not had proper coverage on our liability policy.  I am trying to get proper E&O insurance and I've been told I need to get your contract.  In fact my central station and my insurance carry are both telling me that I have to get your contract.  Turns out we have been using a contract provided by the central station and that contract protects only the central station.
    I don’t want to scare our customers but for our new liability policy
    I am not for sure which contract to purchase from you.
    Could you please advise me.
Sincerely,
name withheld
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RESPONSE
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    You need more than a monitoring contract because you do more than monitoring.  The All in One Agreements cover

  • sale and installation
  • monitoring - any type of alarm, cameras, audio, professional or self monitoring or both
  • inspection
  • repair service
  • guard response or runner service

    In fact the All in One covers all of the services you likely perform.  
    There are several All in One forms to select from.

  • residential security
  • commercial security
  • commercial fire
  • home automation and integration
  • fire protection and suppression

    Personal emergency response service, PERS and mPers, including tracking, requires a separate PERS contract, which comes in single state or nationwide format.s
    The DIY contracts are nationwide and are for 

  • security
  • home automation and integration
  • pers

    The All in One Agreements also come in sale or lease format.  There are many other forms available from us at www.alarmcontracts.com.  Our Contract Administrator Eileen Wagda is available to assist you with your selection and to answer questions.  Please contact her at 516 747 6700 x 312.