Interruption Of  Services And Acts Of God - November 24, 2012

                As I write this article thousands of people are still in the midst of the calamity caused by hurricane Sandy.  For an idea of what it’s like, watch the TV show Revolution – about breakdown of our society after nationwide power failure [not very good show but very timely for the east coast].  Thousands of people are still without electric, many [including me, without Internet], gas is scarce and rationing is in effect.  Homes lost or uninhabitable number in the thousands.

                I have not heard of any central stations that were down.  All real central stations have back up power and back up plans [hopefully].  But electronic alarm monitoring could not have been possible in the affected area.  Central stations were blasted with alarm failures, low batteries, who knows how many intrusion, environmental or fire alarm signals.  There was no point in reporting these signals because response by either police or fire was not possible.  So many areas were inaccessible and police and fire personnel were overwhelmed with helping those in life threatening need.  This morning I read in the paper that traffic and parking tickets came to a halt.  Permits to remove trees, fences, debris a joke.  No one had time to submit them or process them.  

                Not only couldn’t the central stations provide monitoring, but dealers who agreed to provide service were also unable to perform.  What exposure do alarm companies face in these conditions?

                While you would expect that judges called upon to deal with disputes arising out of failed alarm services would understand “act of god” exceptions, the contract bargained for and agreed upon by the parties is a starting point, and sometimes determinative.  Just prior to the hurricane I received an inquiry [which I can’t access because my Internet isn’t working] asking me to review a contract demand by a subscriber.  This subscriber contract required the alarm company to repair the alarm system during the warranty period no matter what the cause, including acts of god.  Obviously this provision placed an unfair burden on the alarm company.  Alarm contracts should in fact address the acts of god issue.   There are a number of provisions in the Standard Form Contracts.

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