What’s liability and how to combat false alarm fines in friends house/ISC/send us email addresses September 14, 2024

KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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What’s liability and how to combat false alarm fines in friends house/ISC/send us email addresses
September 14,  2024

What’s liability and how to combat false alarm fines in friends house

Ken,
          Looking for some input on this incident:
          I only have a few in-house customers, mainly family but I did install an alarm system at my friend's small storefront shop last year. Gave him the friends discount and cost for materials and everything has been great.
          Starting in July a motion inside the shop started giving false alarms. This went on for about 2 weeks straight. He would see the alarms when coming in the morning but would disarm the system. The customer did not know all these false alarms were happening because he set his phone to block all calls except the ones on this call list. Naturally he was blocking central station calls and apparently the police department calls as well. Eventually the PD left a voicemail and he finally got the message.
          He then calls me and tells me what's going on. Long story short, we got it fixed but he ended up cancelling service because he ended up getting a bill for $2,700 from the city for false alarms. The city is Costa Mesa CA.
          My concern now is that I completely forgot to put my alarm sticker on his door window as an additional number to contact and he sent me a city municipal code stating so. I'm afraid he might try and come after me if the city makes him pay the full amount. I do think it's strange for 2 weeks to walk into your establishment and see an alarm on the keypad and not once call your security company.
          What is my liability in this if any?
          What can he do to combat such an unreasonable false alarm charge?
Thanks
Anon
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Response
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          First of all, everybody, this is a legitimate email from a real person [I don’t make up these emails – luckily I get plenty of them to keep this forum busy – and can always use more, BTW]. Second, I can’t help but think of the not too old adage, Stupid is as Stupid does [“Stupid is as stupid does" is a famous quote from the movie Forrest Gump. The meaning is that a person should be judged by their actions, not by how they look.]
          I didn’t have to read too far into the question beyond the “few accounts” and “family” and then “friend”. Of course the discount was another trigger point for me, because, “no good deed goes unpunished”, especially in California. [The phrase "no good deed goes unpunished" is a sarcastic comment on how acts of kindness can often go wrong for the person who does them. Unknown origin]
          According to your website you appear to be a full-fledged alarm/security/integration company, so not sure why you have a limited customer list comprised of family and now a “former” friend.
          I have no idea if you use K&K contracts, in this case the Residential All in One. That would be second mistake [first was installing for a friend. While you can install for a friend the friend needs to be re-classified as a “customer”, and treated as such. Had you used the Residential All in One it would be clear that 1) you’re not liable for your mistakes- failing to put your sticker on the door, and 2) you’re not liable for false alarm fines. Since you don’t mention your contract I’ll assume you don’t have a K&K contract with this customer.
          Without proper contractual protection you could be held liable for the customer’s damages. Why or how? Failure to properly program; failure to properly explain how it works; failing to have sufficient numbers on the Call List [by the way, your central station should have alerted you to the problem- that the cs was dispatching or that the local alarm was activating and likely annoying the neighborhood and they the cs could not reach the subscriber or anyone else on the Call List]. How can you lose such a case? Easy, maybe the judge hates his or other alarm companies, or maybe just you, or maybe he’s having a bad day, so you lose. It’s not a murder trial so you’re going to be stuck with the decision because it won’t be worth appealing. BTW, the dispute between you and the customer would be arbitrated if you had the Residential All in One and you would not likely lose the case because you also would have the other K&K contract provisions.

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          First, let me assure you that the K&K email list is used exclusively for distribution of the articles, which is distributed by two separate bulk mailing services, as many of you know because you get both emails daily.  Emails are sent every day to the alarm industry; there is no charge for the articles.  The classified section, The Alarm Exchange, which is also free, is updated daily as needed, and I believe it’s the largest and most active classifieds in the industry, visited by the most in the industry. K&K does not sell or share the email list with anyone, for any reason.  We retain only emails, no names or other information. It’s free; you can subscribe all the addresses you want and you can always unsubscribe, though you won’t be able to re-subscribe that address.  So your email is secure.
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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
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com