Terms and Conditions of Use

ASK A LAWYER SERVICES CONSUMER AGREEMENT – TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE

WELCOME TO OUR "ASK A LAWYER" SERVICES. BY USING ANY OF OUR ASK A LAWYER SERVICES YOU ARE AGREEING TO BE BOUND BY THIS CONSUMER AGREEMENT AND ITS TERMS OF USE, INCLUDING BINDING INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION. You may not use any Ask a Lawyer Services if you do not agree to this Consumer Agreement or if you are less than 18 years of age.

This Consumer Agreement and the Terms and Conditions of Use herein creates a legally binding and enforceable agreement between "You" (sometimes also referred to as the "Consumer") and Advice Company (the "Company," "us" or "our"), a California corporation headquartered at 2330 Marinship Way, Suite 120, Sausalito, California, 94965, that apply to Consumer's access to and use of any of the Company's "Ask a Lawyer" services, including "Ask a Lawyer Live," "Ask a Lawyer Plus" and/or the basic "Ask a Lawyer" service (collectively and individually referred to as the "Services") sponsored by the Company and its websites, including FreeAdvice.com, AttorneyPages.com, AdviceCo.com (collectively the "Websites").

"You," "you," or "Consumer" as used in this Consumer Agreement include both the individual Consumer accessing any of the Services, and any other individuals, businesses, persons and/or entities on whose behalf the Consumer is accessing any of the Services.

1. You understand and agree that:

• Responses to the question(s) you may ask or chat you may have on the Services are not instantaneous, and the Company's ability to provide or return any such response is outside the control of Company.

• Whether a question or chat will be answered or continued often depends on how clearly the question is framed, the subject matter of the question, the nature of the question, the fact pattern set forth, the complexity of the legal issues involved, the jurisdiction involved, the degree of specificity either requested or inherently required to answer, and which of the participating attorneys is available, ready and willing to provide an answer to the question or hold or continue a chat.
• The Company is not a lawyer or law firm, and by using the Services you are not engaging the Company or any participating attorney to provide you with legal advice or legal services.  The Websites and the Services provide only general information and general guidance – even in response to specific questions you or others may pose. Any responses you do receive should only be used for informational purposes or general guidance.
• The general guidance and general information provided by the Services and the lawyer will necessarily be limited and incomplete. Minor variations in facts – or facts you have not disclosed -- can have major impacts on legal consequences. The inherent limitations of the Websites and the Services make it impractical for the Company or participating lawyers to determine or consider all potentially relevant facts and circumstances, or to do legal research. Nothing said on the Websites or via the Services should be regarded as "legal advice" or "legal services" nor should you or anyone else rely on it.
• For legal advice on which you may reasonably rely you should engage the services of a lawyer or law firm licensed to practice law in your state (or another appropriate jurisdiction) to represent you.
• The participating lawyers on the Services are independent attorneys who are merely other authorized users of the site and not providing responses as employees or agents of the Company.
• Laws, rules, and regulations are often susceptible to a series of different interpretations. Conclusions on a legal question can vary from lawyer to lawyer. Decisions by judges are sometimes reversed on appeal, and even the lawyers who serve as Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States sometimes decide cases by a 5 to 4 vote.
• Communications to or from a lawyer via the Websites and/or the Services are NOT privileged or protected by any type of Attorney-Client confidentiality or other privilege. In other words, everything you ask or are told via the Services may, at the Company's election be made public, published and shown to others or the world at large. Although the Company's policy is not to publish questions and answers and chats provided over its  paid Services confidential the Company reserves the right to change its policies and/or be required to disclose information that it would normally keep confidential if served with a lawfully issued subpoena or lawful investigative demand.
• You are solely responsible for your use of any information contained on or derived from the Websites or Services, and neither the Company, its officers, directors, employees, contractors or any attorney shall have any obligation to you or any liability resulting from any action you or others take or fail to take, or any decision you or others make or defer making, based on any content on the Websites, or any answers, chats or general legal information provided through the Services, even if the Company knows or could have or should have known that the content, answer or information was incorrect, incomplete, outdated or erroneous.
• The Company does not recommend any attorney as suitable for any Consumer's legal issues. Should you wish to retain any lawyer to represent you – such as the attorney with whom you address questions to orchat with over the Services, you should do so directly with the lawyer. The Company will neither be involved in nor have any financial or other involvement with, or any responsibility for, any relationship you and any lawyer may establish.
• Conflicts of interest – actual, potential and philosophical – may exist between you and the lawyer who answers your question. Any lawyer's answers may be influenced by his or her training, experience and positions they or their real clients have asserted in similar circumstances. It is also possible that the lawyer answering a question on the Service may represent a person or firm or type of client whose interests are hostile to yours.
• Although the Company takes what it regards as commercially reasonable efforts to initially verify that each person who holds himself or herself out as a lawyer on the Services has in fact been duly authorized to practice law in at least one state, district or territory of the United States, that lawyer is likely neither licensed in your state nor familiar with the specific laws, rules, customs and practices in your locale. It is also possible the person's status or standing may have changed since the Company most recently attempted to verify the lawyer's status. Further, the Company is unable to assure that the person answering a question on the Services is in fact the lawyer whose credentials the Company previously verified, perhaps because the lawyer has given his/her logon and password to another person, and/or another person may be impersonating the verified lawyer.
• Participating attorneys self-select which questions they are willing and feel qualified to answer and chats they will participate in, and the Company does not represent that the lawyer answering questions or engaging in a chat is sufficiently qualified by education, training, or experience to properly provide general information or general guidance in responding to your legal question.
• The Company is not making any promise or representation that your question or request for information or guidance or chat session will be dealt with within any particular time frame, or answered at all.
• If you have a question that requires an immediate response from a lawyer, or you require immediate legal services or a lawyer to immediately represent you, the Services are not appropriate for your use.
• The Services' inherent limitations – including the nature, limited scope, short duration, and brevity of the communication(s) that may be exchanged between You and a participating lawyer through the Services -- together with the fact the lawyers do not conduct an independent investigation of the Consumer's factual or legal circumstances, nor review any documents no matter how pertinent, nor do detailed research of potentially applicable laws, cases, rules or regulations make the Services inappropriate for important legal questions. 
• You recognize and understand that any information provided by an Attorney on the Website and/or through the Services is general in nature and is likely to be the lawyer's preliminary quick evaluation, which could contain errors or omissions. There is no ongoing duty or obligation for the Company or the lawyer to change or correct any legal information, guidance or answers given over the Services under any circumstances, even if the lawyer or Company becomes aware that the information, guidance and/or answer provided via the Services or otherwise was grossly incorrect or misleading.
• Neither the lawyer  nor the Company shall have any liability for failing to correct, complete or revise any answer or chat, or for failing to provide notice to You or others that the answer was wrong, incorrect, incomplete and/or in need of revision.
• By using the Services you are granting the Company a royalty free license to use and/or publish on the Internet or otherwise all or part of any question you pose or chat content (including the names of any persons or firms you mention in your question) and any answers you have received, and your geographical location. You also are authorizing Company to make such modifications and edits to the text of questions and/or answers as the Company elects. While the Company does not normally publish the name, email and/or your street address, it may refer to your town or city and state or locality. The Company does reserve the right to publish additional indentifying information subject to the Company's then existing Privacy Policy.
• Your use of the Websites and/or Services is subject to the Company's approval and may be revoked by the Company at any time, with or without cause, in the Company's sole discretion.

You can only use the Websites and access the Services if and to the extent they do not conflict with or violate applicable laws or rules in your state or other jurisdiction, and you may NOT use or access the Services or Websites if such use or access would be prohibited or limited by applicable laws or rules.

Your Conduct and Responsibilities

• You may use the Services and Websites only for lawful and legitimate purposes. You may not take any action or post any question or other content that violates or infringes upon the rights of others, including but not limited to the intellectual property rights of others, or that would otherwise violate any law.
• You may not post content on any of the Services or Websites that is disparaging of others, hostile, threatening, insulting, bullying, provocative, bigoted, abusive, defamatory, libelous, uses any obscene wording, contains sexual content, promotes illegal activity, contains nudity or profanity, or uses graphics that portray any of the foregoing or violence, or that create or pose security, privacy or other risks to the Company or any third party. Personal and commercial attacks, bullying, and hate speech are expressly forbidden.
• You represent and agree that in connection with the use of the Websites and/or Services you will not make any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact that would be necessary in order to make the statements you do make, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading.
• You may not falsely impersonate any other person or firm or its position, nor may you falsely claim to be a member of any profession or have any occupational, educational or other status unless you in fact are a member of that profession, or have that occupational, educational or other status.
• You may not abuse the Websites or Services or feedback features by submitting false, inappropriate or misleading referrals, ratings, comments, or suggestions.
• You will not engage in any other activity that denigrates Company, the Website or any Services in any media.
• You may not use automated means (e.g. viruses, bots, robots, spiders, scrapers, or any other computer code) to collect any Company intellectual property, or post links to sites that contain viruses, trojans or other malicious programs, or engage in any activity that can interfere with or burden the operation of Company or the Websites or the Services, including but not limited to bad faith excessive usage or abuse.
• You may not use the Website or any Services to commit, engage in, or abet wrongful or illegal activity.
• You are aware and acknowledge that any violation of any of the foregoing will subject you to civil liability and any willful violation of any of the foregoing may also subject you to criminal liability.
• If you are not satisfied with an answer you receive through the Services or the helpfulness of any chat you have had over the Services, or have elected a paid Service and wish to request that you not be charged or to request a refund, you must (a) complete the feedback form at the conclusion of the chat and also email us at support@attorneypages.com explaining the basis for your dissatisfaction and providing your name, address and phone number and a specific reference to the question or chat session to within 72 hours of the chat or last answer.

General Terms

By submitting any content and other materials on the Services, You, the Consumer, recognize and agree that the material need not be held by the Company or its agents in confidence and you also understand and agree your question(s) and any answer(s) provided may be visible and viewable to the general public at large.

You agree that the Company may revise and edit any question(s) and answer(s) in its sole discretion prior to or after making the material public.  You grant Company the right to edit, redact, delete, modify, and/or change content or categorizations of any and all material submitted on the Website or through the Services at Company's sole discretion. You agree to release Company or its officers, directors, employees or agents from liability for making any edits, redactions, deletions, modifications, and for any content and other materials that are not published, timely or otherwise, or that do not receive any responses, or are removed.

You understand and agree that by accepting a question the Company does not promise or guarantee that you will receive an answer, much less a satisfactory or timely answer.

This User Agreement is in addition to and not in place of any other User Agreements, Privacy Policies, and Terms and Conditions of Use that apply to use of the Websites or any features on the websites. To the extent that the terms of this User Agreement are inconsistent with any other  such agreement, then the Terms of this User Agreement shall prevail and such other agreements merely supplement this User Agreement to the extent not inconsistent herewith.

Payment

If You, the Consumer, elect to use one of the paid Services, access to the paid Service is fully earned upon payment, whether by submission of a credit card or other payment mechanism.

However, as the Company strives to assure you (and other customers of the Services) with satisfaction, the Company may verify the credit or debit card you present for payment and have the card issuer place a "hold" on the amount needed to complete the charge, rather than process the charges for the Services. The Company will complete the charge and be paid shortly after you:

1. Affirmatively accept the answer or chat as satisfactory or helpful, or
2. Fail to complete the evaluation form and/or immediately report to the Company byemail to disputes@attorneypages.com that you object to the answer or chat and briefly explain why the answer or chat was not satisfactory or helpful. If you simply log off that is NOT sufficient to create a dispute and as a result you will be charged.

If you do make a timely objection on the evaluation form the Company will normally not charge you for the answer or chat. However, if the Company has already charged you, the Company will authorize a refund of the amount it had charged for that answer or chat subject to our review of your objection.

If there is an objection to a charge the Company typically will conduct an internal review to determine if a reasonable person would have accepted the answer or chat as satisfactory or helpful. If the Company determines that your objection was unreasonable or your refusal to acknowledge that answer or chat was satisfactory or helpful (so that the Company could charge you for the answer) was unreasonable the Company may bar you from future access to the Services.

The Company also may bar anyone from access to the Services for any reason the Company, in its absolute discretion, deems appropriate, and may discontinue or modify the Services, or any of them, at any time without notice.

Disclaimer of Warranties

THE WEBSITES AND THE SERVICES ARE OFFERED AND PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" AND YOU THE CONSUMER USES THEM AT YOUR OWN RISK. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE BY LAW, COMPANY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. DUE TO THE POSSIBILITY OF HUMAN AND MECHANICAL ERROR AND OTHER FACTORS NOT WITHIN THE CONTROL OF COMPANY, COMPANY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS THAT MAY OCCUR.

Company does not warrant, guarantee, represent, or make any claim that use of the Websites or any of the Services will necessarily provide quality of information or guidance or results.

Participating Attorneys are independent of the Company and are not employed or retained by the Company, whether or not the Company may pay them for the answers they provide through the Services and/or for other work they perform for or on behalf of the Company.

No information about an attorney whether provided via the Services or contained on the Websites constitutes an endorsement of any particular attorney or a guarantee of any lawyer's or law firm's personal or professional qualities or characteristics or any answer or opinion the lawyer may render.

Should you, the Consumer, seek to retain any attorney, whether on behalf of the Consumer or any third party, and whether for legal representation, legal services or legal advice relating to the same or a similar matter to the question posed on or answer provided through the Services, or an entirely different matter, the Company SHALL HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY FOR SUCH RELATIONSHIP OR ITS CONSEQUENCES, AND YOU -- NOT THE COMPANY -- assume all responsibility for that relationship, including the duty to independently ensure and verify the attorney(s) You interact with is licensed and in good standing in the appropriate jurisdiction(s), and also is qualified to handle your legal matter. The Company does not monitor or have any control over any attorney's or law firm's legal advice or legal services, and the Company assumes no responsibility or liability for any action, error or omission on the part of any attorney or law firm.

The Company is not liable for any statements, representations, ratings, endorsements, advertisements, testimonials, responses, comments, information, opinions, advice, links to any third party websites and content contained on such third party websites, or content of any other kind provided by its Consumers in any area of the Website or any Services.  Any such reference(s) on the Websites or any Services is not a sponsorship, endorsement, or recommendation by Company.

Some information provided and displayed on the Website and the Services is based on contributions to the Websites and Services by other users and consumers and/or reflects the automated computation of statistical data based on such contributions. Some information may not be current or accurate, or contain errors or omissions. You, the Consumer, 8 agree to not hold Company liable for such errors or omissions displayed on the Website and any Services.

Availability of Services

The Company may, in its complete and absolute discretion, disable your access to, or suspend or terminate your ability to use some or all of the Websites or Services at any time, with or without notice or providing a reason. The Company will not be liable or responsible for any damages or loss that result from disabling your access, or suspending your ability to use the Websites or the Services. 

You Must Protect Your Consumer Name and Passwords

You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality or the Consumer name and passwords you use to access the Websites and Services.  While the Company takes what it regards as commercially reasonable efforts to protect Consumer names and passwords, no system is fool-proof or hack-proof, and the Company shall not have any liability should your Consumer name and/or password be disclosed or compromised, regardless of fault on its part.

No Duty to Monitor Website

Company is under no obligation to restrict or monitor the Websites or any Services in any way. The Company does not necessarily prescreen questions or answers on the Services nor does it necessarily regularly monitor the Services. Nevertheless, the Company may modify or remove content at any time at its sole discretion.

Limitations of Liabilities

IN NO EVENT SHALL COMPANY, ITS EMPLOYEES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, AGENTS, SHAREHOLDERS OR INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS, SERVICE PROVIDERS, OR CONSULTANTS BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR OTHERWISE, WHICH MAY ARISE FROM, IN CONNECTION WITH, OR BE RELATED TO ANY DENIAL OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE WEBSITES AND ANY SERVICES OR USE OF THE WEBSITES OR SERVICE, INCLUDING ANY "ADVICE", INFORMATION, CONTENT, LEGAL SERVICES, THIRD PARTY SERVICES, ACTIONS, INACTIONS OR "ADVICE" OF ANY PARTICIPATING ATTORNEY OR OTHER CONSUMER, LINKS TO ANY THIRD PARTY WEBSITES AND CONTENT CONTAINED ON THIRD PARTY WEBSITES, PURPORTED ERRORS, OMISSIONS OR MALPRACTICE CLAIMS, OR OTHER MATERIALS CONTAINED, ACCESSED, OR DISPLAYED THEREIN, WHETHER SUBMITTED BY COMPANY, CONSUMER OR THIRD PARTIES. NOR SHALL COMPANY BE RESPONSIBLE, WITHOUT LIMITATION, FOR ANY DAMAGES, INJURY OR LOSS OF ANY KIND. SUCH LOSS MAY INCLUDE, WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOSS OF DATA, LOSS OF USE OR LOSS OF PROFITS, THAT MAY HAVE BEEN CAUSED BY, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY USE OR RELIANCE ON A WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICES, LEGAL SERVICES, THIRD PARTY SERVICES, ACTIONS, INACTIONS OR "ADVICE" OF ANY PARTICIPATING ATTORNEY OR OTHER CONSUMER, SITE MATERIALS, COMPANY CONSUMER OR THIRD PARTY CONTENT, OR FROM ERRORS, OMISSIONS, INTERRUPTIONS, DEFECTS, DELETION OF FILES OR E-MAIL, VIRUSES, MALWARE, ANY FAILURE OF PERFORMANCE OR DELAY IN OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION, THAT MAY HAVE RESULTED FROM OR BE CAUSED BY ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING THOSE WITHIN OR BEYOND COMPANY'S CONTROL. SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES INCLUDE, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ACTS OF GOD OR GOVERNMENT, COMMUNICATIONS FAILURE, THEFT, DESTRUCTION OR UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO COMPANY'S INFORMATION, DATABASE, RECORDS, WEBSITE AND ANY SERVICES. CONSUMER SOLELY ASSUMES ANY AND ALL RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH ANY ACCESS OR USE OF WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICES OR RELIANCE ON ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED ON OR THROUGH THE WEBSITE AND ANY SERVICES.

NOTWITHSTANDING THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT WILL THE AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF COMPANY, WHETHER IN WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHER CIVIL CAUSE OF ACTION, PRODUCT OR STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHER THEORY, ARISING FROM OR RELATING IN ANY MANNER TO THE USE OF OR RELIANCE UPON THE WEBSITES, OR ANY SERVICES, EXCEED ANY COMPENSATION PAID WITHIN THE LAST SIX (6) MONTHS, IF ANY, TO COMPANY FOR ACCESS TO OR USE OF THE WEBSITES OR ANY SERVICES. TO THE EXTENT TO WHICH LOCAL OR STATE AUTHORITIES DO NOT PERMIT THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SOME OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY.

Indemnification

You, the Consumer, must defend Company against any claim made or brought against Company by a third party alleging that anything Consumer said or did via the Website or Services is a violation of, infringes or misappropriates the intellectual property rights of a third party or violates applicable law. Consumer shall indemnify Company for reasonable attorney's fees incurred by Company in connection with any such Claim for any damages plus any and all damages finally awarded against Company, provided that the Company makes reasonable efforts to give the Consumer written notice of the Claim. The Company will also offer the Consumer a reasonable opportunity to undertake defense of the Claim provided the Consumer selects defense counsel reasonably acceptable to Company and provides a bond or other reasonable assurance that any judgment will be paid.

Consent to Receive Email

By using the Services, you agree and authorize the Company and its affiliates to send you emails for a period of 3 years from your most recent use, without the opportunity to opt out. The emails may include communications regarding your use of the Services, changes in the Consumer Agreement, and/or information about the Company, its Websites and its offerings.

INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION ONLY AND WAIVER OF TRIAL BY JURY

This Consumer Agreement and its Terms and Conditions of Use will be interpreted under and construed in accordance with the Federal Arbitration Act and the domestic laws of the State of California without resort to California's conflict of law rules. Except as may otherwise be agreed in writing by you and the Company's CEO, any disputes or claims arising under or related to the Services or under this  Consumer Agreement will be determined by binding arbitration under the then applicable Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association on an individual basis. The arbitration may not be part of any class action or other representative proceeding. The arbitration shall be conducted in English before a single arbitrator in San Francisco, California. The person filing the arbitration shall initially bear the filing costs. The parties shall share the costs of the arbitrator but shall each bear their own attorney fees and legal expenses. The arbitrator may award the cost of the filing fee initially borne by the party asserting the claim to that party if it prevails, and may also award the share of the fee and costs of the arbitrator to be borne by the party that ultimately loses.

Any disputes or claims between Consumer and the Company arising under this Consumer Agreement or related to the Services may be filed and heard only in an individual action in a state or federal court located in San Francisco County or Marin County, California and such courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction of such actions. You consent to personal jurisdiction in such courts, agree that any matter heard in a court shall be determined by a judge, and you waive any right to have a jury.

Changes to Terms

Company reserves the right to prospectively change or modify any of the provisions, terms, or conditions contained in this Consumer Agreement or any incorporated terms and conditions at any time, in the Company's sole and absolute discretion, and without advance notice. Any change or modification will be effective immediately upon posting of the revision(s) on the Website or in the portion of the Website dealing with the particular Services involved. By using or continuing to use the Website or any Services after the changed Terms and Conditions have been posted you are agreeing to the revised or updated Terms and Conditions, even if the Website does not affirmatively request your consent.

Terminating Privileges to Access the Site or Services – Banning You From the Website and/or Services

The Company may at its sole and absolute discretion, terminate any privilege you may have to access the Website and/or any of its Services at any time, without advance notice, and without any liability to you or anyone else. While the Company may attempt to send you electronic notice that you may not use the Website or any Services, it shall have no obligation to do so and may simply disable any access that you have established. Any direct or indirect use or attempt to access the Website or any Services after you have received notice that you have been banned, or that your privileges to use the Website have been revoked, shall be regarded as an illegal trespass and may subject you to criminal prosecution and/or damages. 

Additional to Other Contractual Obligations

The terms and conditions contained in this Consumer Agreement are in addition to any other contractual terms and conditions that may apply under any other agreement(s) between You, the Consumer, and the Company, except that to the extent there shall be an inconsistency between this and any such other Agreements, the terms and conditions of this Consumer Agreement shall prevail to the extent that it relates to the use of the Services.

Severability

If any provision of this Consumer Agreement -- Terms and Conditions of Use is determined by a court to be invalid, unlawful, unenforceable, or void for any reason, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this Consumer Agreement and shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any remaining provisions, which will continue to be valid and enforceable.

Version 08-29-12