KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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ADA Website compliance - legal shake down? / Contract Sale ends soon
January 5, 2024
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ADA Website compliance - legal shake down?
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K&K has an Employment Department that does contract compliance and employment litigation, mostly defense. We also have a newsletter that is geared to our health care clients. My daughter Jennifer heads the department [and generates all the clients]. All of you have a website for your business. Here is a recent article that affects all of you, website compliance with ADA rules.
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ADA Website compliance - legal shake down?
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Jennifer,
I received a letter from a visually impaired person claiming my website is not ADA accessible, and asking me to reimburse them for a lawyer's fee for their legal consult. Do I have to take any action or throw this shake-down out?
Thanks,
Dr. R
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Response
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So, yes, ADA compliance for a website is a real legal necessity. Yes, the Federal laws do give a private right of action to disabled individuals not able to "access" your website, for any number of reasons. I cannot advise you to throw the letter out. Time to take action. The statutes creating ADA website compliance requirements also create liability for non compliance. To avoid additional cost related to litigation, take heed to the extortion threats of website non compliance, and use as a wake up call to confirm compliance, and consider Cyber insurance. We have asked around to the medical and dental societies we work with and have received a few company and vendor recommendations for the technical solutions needed. See below -
ADA Accessibility Recommended Product Solutions –
https://userway.org/
https://www.deque.com/
https://accessibe.com/
Recommended Vendor by the New York State Ophthalmological Society
https://www.glacial.com/
Michael Dobkowski
Glacial Multimedia
(207) 878-5900
info@glacial.com
Michael’s blog post on ADA compliance - https://www.glacial.com/make-a-website-ada-compliant/ (worth the 4 minute read).
(please note our firm is not affiliated with any of the above, and we are also not a client of any of the above so we cannot offer any feedback, nor are we providing a direct endorsement).
Going back to insurance.... Cyber insurance is a bit of a quagmire in itself because depending on the policy, you may not have key coverage areas. Be sure to spend the time pressing your broker you will be covered for HIPAA related exposures, as well as ADA, along with ransomware and anything else they can come up with… Try to keep the deductible at a reasonable level so you would actually avail yourself of insurance coverage.
Heading over to web designer commentary for a tangent - Please Please Please show us your web designer contract BEFORE you sign. Wouldn't it be nice for me to answer you that your web designer is on the hook for non-compliance? I can only do that if we contract for that accountability in your initial vendor contract....
If you do receive a letter or lawsuit, do not hesitate to report it to us (your attorney) / insurance immediately. Time is of the essence with all filings.
Jennifer Kirschenbaum Shuster
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
516 747 6700 x 302
Jennifer@Kirschenbaumesq.com
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THE CONTRACT SALE: NOW THROUGH JANUARY 12, 2024
Join the Concierge Program before you order contracts and get additional 10% discount. Join here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/concierge
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NOTICE:
The Standard Form Agreements have been updated for 2024; over 10 changes, some significant. Check with our Contract Administrator, Eileen Wagda, at 516 747 6700 ext 312 to see if your forms need updating. Keep in mind that updates are free for 6 months and half price for 12 months from your original order date. Requests for updates will be processed after the new orders are processed. The sale ends January 12, 2024; the sooner you order the sooner you will get the contracts. Please do not call requesting priority unless you are a Concierge Client or have paid for expedited service.
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How to order: order at www.alarmcontracts.com - ordering is easy - order on-line during the sale and save thousands of dollars. Need help ordering? Call our Contract Administrator Eileen Wagda at 516 747 6700 x 312 for assistance. Concierge Clients can call our Concierge Program Coordinator Stacy Spector, Esq for assistance at 516 747 6700 x 304. Concierge Clients receive an additional 10% off the sale price. You can join the Concierge Program before ordering to receive the discount and you should take advantage of this program.
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Contract sale runs through January 12, 2024. This will definitely be the best deal of 2024. When you place the order the full price will come up. We will apply the discount manually when we process the order. Contracts will be delivered by email only. Just order what you need - we will check and apply the proper discounts.
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Here's the deal:
Buy 1 All in One Residential, Commercial or Fire All in One and get $100 off and $50 off Disclaimer Notice save $150
Buy 2 All in One forms and get $100 off first and $200 off second and $75 off Disclaimer Notice and $100 off alarm.com rider and $100 off the Honeywell Notifier rider. Save up to $575.
Buy 3 or more All in One forms and get same as above and $300 off the third form and $400 off the fourth form. Save up to $1075.00 [Residential, Commercial, Fire].
Buy 4 All in One forms and get same as above and $400 off the fourth form. Save up to $1275.00 [Residential, Commercial, Fire, Home Automation]
Commercial Mobile Surveillance Lease $1000. Save $250
Fire All in One with Security Rider $1275.00. Save $300.00 Add the Commercial Fire All in One and the Commercial All in One and get $200 off each. Save $700.00
Qualifier Agreement $1200.00 Save $300.00
Digital Sign And Display Sales, Hosting And Service $437.50 save 50% $437.50
Computer Consulting and Service $437.50 save 50% $437.50
Nationwide DIY with monitoring. $3500.00 save $1000.00**
Nationwide PERS with or without GPS tracking. $3500.00 Save $1000.00**
All other contracts not listed above will be discounted 20% during the sale. Concierge Clients will receive an additional 10%. save thousands
* Your order must be placed on line at www.alarmcontracts.com and received by our office no later than January 12, 2024 by midnight EST. Orders must contain valid credit card payment and be processed; you will receive confirmation. Fill out the order form; the full prices will show and we will apply the discount before processing the order. Orders arriving after sale ends will be processed at regular published rates. Orders will be processed in order received. For Rush orders, delivered by email within 48 hours, add 15% - call Eileen to process.
Concierge Clients will receive their Concierge Program Discount on the Sale Price. Sign up for the Concierge Program before placing your contract order to receive the additional discount.
** Does not include consultation or modification
What's our Guarantee policy re updates?
Free updates within 6 months of purchase***
Half price within 6 months to 1 year***
*** applies to original purchase only
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Receiving check from someone other than your customer
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Ken,
We signed an agreement with a company under one name;
received a payment but check is from a different company.
Any issue or anything we should do or note?
Jeff
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Response
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I repeatedly and consistently counsel that you should do no work without a contract. It should be obvious that the contract needs to be signed by the party for whom you are doing the work.
While your question seems common and easy enough it actually raised a few interesting legal issues, none of which you want to have to deal with.
Let’s start with the collection side. You’ve been collecting payment from ABC Corp or from John Doe for your services [anything from sale, installation or after install services]. Your contract is with XYZ Corp or with John Smith. One day you get a letter from a Bankruptcy Trustee for ABC Corp or from John Doe who wants to know why you’ve been getting money. When you produce your contract it’s not going to be with ABC Corp or from John Doe, and the Bankruptcy Trustee is going to demand the money back.
How about the liability angle? ABC Corp or John Doe pay you. Then there is a loss; ABC Corp or from John Doe or their attorney or insurance company seeking subrogation demand damages. You produce the contract and smugly point out the protective provisions. They however call your attention to the fact that neither ABC Corp or from John Doe signed the contract; they are not bound by the contract.
You next comment is that since they didn’t sign the contract they aren’t the customer, contract says “no third party beneficiaries” and you owed them no duty. Their response is, “well we paid you all these months for service and you accepted the payment and did the work, and we don’t know anything about a contract because we never signed one”.
In either the collection or defense scenario you are the one facing the uphill battle. You will have to prove that the paying party received adequate consideration for its payments and you will have to prove that the contract with its protective provisions binds the non-signing parties.
It would be much easier to insist that the party paying you is the party who signed the contract or assumed the contract with your consent. The K&K Assignment and Assumption form is recently added to the forms available at www.alarmcontracts.com.
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STANDARD FORMS Alarm / Security / Fire and related Agreements
click here: www.alarmcontracts.com
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CONCIERGE LAWYER SERVICE PROGRAM FOR THE ALARM INDUSTRY - You can check out the program and sign up here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/concierge or contact our Program Coordinator Stacy Spector, Esq at 516 747 6700 x 304.
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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
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