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    Your state legislature enacts laws, the courts interpret them.  Reading cases in your state involving issues important to the alarm industry is worth your time and effort.  I have posted on my web site what I believe to be the leading cases in each state.  You can find those cases at

http://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/casesbystate.htm

    Don't limit your inquiry to just your state.  Other state court decisions ofter influence how your state court is going to rule on future cases and therefore you would want to know about a trend in judicial decisions sooner rather than later. 

    Fortunately the alarm industry still enjoys the benefit of public policy that permits alarm companies to contract away liability for their own negligence - the enforcement of the exculpatory clause and the limitation of liability clause, as well as several other protective provisions. 

    I recommend that you take a look at a fairly recent Vermont case.  You can find it at http://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/vermont1.htm

    Two jewelry and coin dealers sued a mall when their display cases were burglarized.  The jewelers claimed that the mall fraudulently induced them to enter into leases by misrepresenting the mall's security.  The mall moved for summary judgment based on an exculpatory clause in the lease.  Though the motion was granted by the lower court, on appeal the appellate court found that fraud and negligent representation causes of action would not be barred by the exculpatory clause.

    This case will be of interest to you because the representations that are claimed are much like those an alarm company might make when trying to make a sale.   Thus there were representations regarding response time, CCTV cameras, and on site mall staff. 

    The court decision lays out much of the law that is favorable to the alarm industry.  However, as noted above, those provisions will not defeat claims of fraud and misrepresentation, which of course have to be proved at the time of trial. 

    There are some things you can do to guard against claims of fraud and misrepresentation which may leave you exposed.  You don't want to have to wait for the outcome of a full blown trial to find out if you are going to be held liable and for how much.  Besides conducting yourself, and that includes your sales staff, in a proper and honest manner, which should be a given, you need to document your negotiations with your subscriber, and the contract is not enough.

    The Disclaimer Notice was implemented and designed after a hard lesson learned.  Get and use this form.  It should work better than a sleeping pill if you get sued and your subscriber claims you made representations about your services and system that the subscriber claims wasn't, and isn't, true.  Although your contract, if it's one of my Standard Alarm Contracts, will disclaim representations and warranties and further disclose the limitations of the security system, and your contractual duties and limits, it will be the Disclaimer Notice that finally hits the nail on the head, ending your subscriber's case against you. 

    PS - it doesn't work if you don't have and use it !!!!