Welcome to https://clslaw.com (the "Site"). This Site is operated by the Law Office of Christopher Smith. Please read these Terms of Use carefully before using this Site. By using the Site, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use.
- BINDING EFFECT. This is a binding agreement. By using the Internet site located at https:// clslaw.com (the “Site”) or any services provided in connection with the Site (the “Service”), you agree to abide by these Terms of Use, as they may be amended by the Law Office of Christopher Smith (“Company”) from time to time in its sole discretion. Company will post a notice on the Site any time these Terms of Use have been changed or otherwise updated. It is your responsibility to review these Terms of Use periodically, and if at any time you find these Terms of Use unacceptable, you must immediately leave the Site and cease all use of the Service and the Site. YOU AGREE THAT BY USING THE SERVICE YOU REPRESENT THAT YOU ARE AT LEAST 18 YEARS OLD AND THAT YOU ARE LEGALLY ABLE TO ENTER INTO THIS AGREEMENT.
- PRIVACY POLICY. Company respects your privacy and permits you to control the treatment of your personal information. A complete statement of Company’s current privacy policy can be reviewed on our Privacy Policy page. Company’s privacy policy is expressly incorporated into this Agreement by this reference. When you are required to open an account to use or access the Site or Service, you must complete the registration process by providing the complete and accurate information requested on the registration form. You will also be asked to provide a username and password. You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password. You may not use the account, username, or password of someone else at any time. You agree to notify Company immediately of any unauthorized use of your account, username, or password. Company shall not be liable for any loss that you incur as a result of someone else using your password, either with or without your knowledge. You may be held liable for any losses incurred by Company, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, consultants, agents, and representatives due to someone else’s use of your account or password.
- USE OF SOFTWARE. Company may make certain software available to you from the Site. If you download software from the Site, the software, including all files and images contained in or generated by the software, and accompanying data (collectively, “Software”) are deemed to be licensed to you by Company, for your personal, non-commercial, use only. Company does not transfer either the title or the intellectual property rights to the Software, and Company retains full and complete title to the Software as well as all intellectual property rights therein. You may not sell, redistribute, or reproduce the Software, nor may you decompile, reverse-engineer, disassemble, or otherwise convert the Software to a human-perceivable form. All trademarks and logos are owned by Company or its licensors and you may not copy or use them in any manner.
- USER CONTENT. You grant Company a license to use the materials you post to the Site or Service. By posting, downloading, displaying, performing, transmitting, or otherwise distributing information or other content (“User Content”) to the Site or Service, you are granting Company, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, consultants, agents, and representatives a license to use User Content in connection with the operation of the Internet business of Company, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, consultants, agents, and representatives, including without limitation, a right to copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, translate, and reformat User Content. You will not be compensated for any User Content. You agree that Company may publish or otherwise disclose your name in connection with your User Content. By posting User Content on the Site or Service, you warrant and represent that you own the rights to the User Content or are otherwise authorized to post, distribute, display, perform, transmit, or otherwise distribute User Content.
- COMPLIANCE WITH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWS. When accessing the Site or using the Service, you agree to obey the law and to respect the intellectual property rights of others. Your use of the Service and the Site is at all times governed by and subject to laws regarding copyright ownership and use of intellectual property. You agree not to upload, download, display, perform, transmit, or otherwise distribute any information or content (collectively, “Content”) in violation of any third party’s copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property or proprietary rights. You agree to abide by laws regarding copyright ownership and use of intellectual property, and you shall be solely responsible for any violations of any relevant laws and for any infringements of third-party rights caused by any Content you provide or transmit, or that is provided or transmitted using your User ID. The burden of proving that any Content does not violate any laws or third-party rights rests solely with you.
- INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT. You shall not make the following types of Content available. You agree not to upload, download, display, perform, transmit, or otherwise distribute any Content that (a) is libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, abusive, or threatening; (b) advocates or encourages conduct that could constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national, or foreign law or regulation; or (c) advertises or otherwise solicits funds or is a solicitation for goods or services. Company reserves the right to terminate your receipt, transmission, or other distribution of any such material using the Service, and, if applicable, to delete any such material from its servers. Company intends to cooperate fully with any law enforcement officials or agencies in the investigation of any violation of these Terms of Use or of any applicable laws.
- COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. Company has in place certain legally mandated procedures regarding allegations of copyright infringement occurring on the Site or with the Service. Company has adopted a policy that provides for the immediate suspension and/or termination of any Site or Service user who is found to have infringed on the rights of Company or of a third party, or otherwise violated any intellectual property laws or regulations. Company’s policy is to investigate any allegations of copyright infringement brought to its attention. If you have evidence, know, or have a good faith belief that your rights or the rights of a third party have been violated and you want Company to delete, edit, or disable the material in question, you must provide Company with all of the following information: (a) a physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive right that is allegedly infringed; (b) identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works; (c) identification of the material that is claimed to be infringed or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit Company to locate the material; (d) information reasonably sufficient to permit Company to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and if available, an electronic mail address at which you may be contacted; (e) a statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and (f) a statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed. For this notification to be effective, you must provide it to Company’s designated agent at:
Christopher Smith
Law Office of Christopher Smith
200 W. Milford Street, Unit 222
Glendale, CA 91203
+1 (818) 533-9832
- ALLEGED VIOLATIONS. Company reserves the right to terminate your use of the Service and/or the Site. To ensure that Company provides a high-quality experience for you and for other users of the Site and the Service, you agree that Company or its representatives may access your account and records on a case-by-case basis to investigate complaints or allegations of abuse, infringement of third party rights, or other unauthorized uses of the Site or the Service. Company does not intend to disclose the existence or occurrence of such an investigation unless required by law, but Company reserves the right to terminate your account or your access to the Site immediately, with or without notice to you, and without liability to you, if Company believes that you have violated any of the Terms of Use, furnished Company with false or misleading information, or interfered with use of the Site or the Service by others.
- NO ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP. Transmission of the information on Company’s website, the points of contact listed on the website, or materials offered for download or via email communication are not intended to create, and receipt of your information does not constitute an attorney-client relationship. Newsletter recipients and online readers should not rely upon the transmission of an e-mail message to Mr. Smith through this website to create an attorney-client relationship. Internet subscribers and online readers should not act upon any information from this website without first consulting legal counsel of their own. The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisements. Before selection of counsel, users should ask a prospective attorney or law firm to send written information about their qualifications and experience. The information in this website is not provided in the course of an attorney-client relationship and is not intended to constitute legal advice or to substitute for obtaining legal advice from an attorney licensed in the appropriate jurisdiction. The information and materials offered on this website are intended for informational and general education purposes, only.
- NO WARRANTIES. COMPANY HEREBY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES. COMPANY IS MAKING THE SITE AVAILABLE “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. YOU ASSUME THE RISK OF ANY AND ALL DAMAGE OR LOSS FROM USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE SITE OR THE SERVICE. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, COMPANY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING THE SITE, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NONINFRINGEMENT. COMPANY DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SITE OR THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS OR THAT THE OPERATION OF THE SITE OR THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE.
- LIMITED LIABILITY. COMPANY’S LIABILITY TO YOU IS LIMITED. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL COMPANY BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, LOST PROFITS, OR LOST DATA, REGARDLESS OF THE FORESEEABILITY OF THOSE DAMAGES) ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE SITE OR ANY OTHER MATERIALS OR SERVICES PROVIDED TO YOU BY COMPANY. This limitation shall apply regardless of whether the damages arise out of breach of contract, tort, or any other legal theory or form of action.
- AFFILIATED SITES. Company has no control over, and no liability for any third-party websites or materials. Company works with a number of partners and affiliates whose Internet sites may be linked with the Site. Because neither Company nor the Site has control over the content and performance of these partner and affiliate sites, Company makes no guarantees about the accuracy, currency, content, or quality of the information provided by such sites, and Company assumes no responsibility for unintended, objectionable, inaccurate, misleading, or unlawful content that may reside on those sites. Similarly, from time to time in connection with your use of the Site, you may have access to content items (including, but not limited to, websites) that are owned by third parties. You acknowledge and agree that Company makes no guarantees about, and assumes no responsibility for, the accuracy, currency, content, or quality of this third party content, and that, unless expressly provided otherwise, these Terms of Use shall govern your use of any and all third party content.
- PROHIBITED USES. Company imposes certain restrictions on your permissible use of the Site and the Service. You are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate any security features of the Site or Service, including, without limitation, (a) accessing content or data not intended for you, or logging onto a server or account that you are not authorized to access; (b) attempting to probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Service, the Site, or any associated system or network, or to breach security or authentication measures without proper authorization; (c) interfering or attempting to interfere with service to any user, host, or network, including, without limitation, by means of submitting a virus to the Site or Service, overloading, “flooding,” “spamming,” “mail bombing,” or “crashing;” (d) using the Site or Service to send unsolicited e-mail, including, without limitation, promotions, or advertisements for products or services; (e) forging any TCP/IP packet header or any part of the header information in any e-mail or in any posting using the Service; or (f) attempting to modify, reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise reduce or attempt to reduce to a human-perceivable form any of the source code used by Company in providing the Site or Service. Any violation of system or network security may subject you to civil and/or criminal liability.
- INDEMNITY. You agree to indemnify Company for certain of your acts and omissions. You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Company, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, consultants, agents, and representatives from any and all third party claims, losses, liability, damages, and/or costs (including reasonable attorney fees and costs) arising from your access to or use of the Site, your violation of these Terms of Use, or your infringement, or infringement by any other user of your account, of any intellectual property or other right of any person or entity. Company will notify you promptly of any such claim, loss, liability, or demand, and will provide you with reasonable assistance, at your expense, in defending any such claim, loss, liability, damage, or cost.
- COPYRIGHT. All contents of Site or Service are: Copyright © 2018 Company, 27240 Turnberry Lane, Suite 200, Valencia, CA 91355. All rights reserved.
- GOVERNING LAW AND RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES. These Terms of Use shall be construed in accordance with and governed by the laws of the United States and the State of California, without reference to their rules regarding conflicts of law. If a dispute arises from or relates to this contract, or the breach thereof, and if the dispute cannot be settled through direct discussions, the parties agree to endeavor first to settle the dispute by mediation administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Commercial Mediation Procedures before resorting to arbitration. The parties further agree that any unresolved controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this contract, or breach thereof, shall be settled by arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association in accordance with its Commercial Arbitration Rules and judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator(s) may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. Claims shall be heard by a single arbitrator, unless the claim amount exceeds ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00), in which case the dispute shall be heard by a panel of three arbitrators. The place of arbitration shall be Los Angeles, CA. The arbitration shall be governed by the laws of the State of CA. If the dispute is less than ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00) there shall be no discovery other than the exchange of documents. If the dispute is over ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00), discovery shall consist of no more than two (2) depositions of four (4) hours or less. Hearings will take place pursuant to the standard procedures of the Commercial Arbitration Rules that contemplate in-person hearings. The arbitrators will have no authority to award punitive or other damages not measured by the prevailing party's actual damages, except as may be required by statute. The arbitrator(s) shall not award consequential damages in any arbitration initiated under this section. Any award in an arbitration initiated under this clause shall be limited to monetary damages and shall include no injunction or direction to any party other than the direction to pay a monetary amount. The arbitrators may determine how the costs and expenses of the arbitration shall be allocated between the parties, but they shall not award attorneys' fees. The award of the arbitrators shall be accompanied by a reasoned opinion. Except as may be required by law, neither a party nor an arbitrator may disclose the existence, content, or results of any arbitration hereunder without the prior written consent of both parties. The parties agree that failure or refusal of a party to pay its required share of the deposits for arbitrator compensation or administrative charges shall constitute a waiver by that party to present evidence or cross-examine witness. In such event, the other party shall be required to present evidence and legal argument as the arbitrator(s) may require for the making of an award. Such waiver shall not allow for a default judgment against the non-paying party in the absence of evidence presented as provided for above. Notwithstanding any language to the contrary in the contract documents, the parties hereby agree: that the Underlying Award may be appealed pursuant to the AAA's Optional Appellate Arbitration Rules ("Appellate Rules"); that the Underlying Award rendered by the arbitrator(s) shall, at a minimum, be a reasoned award; and that the Underlying Award shall not be considered final until after the time for filing the notice of appeal pursuant to the Appellate Rules has expired. Appeals must be initiated within thirty (30) days of receipt of an Underlying Award, as defined by Rule A-3 of the Appellate Rules, by filing a Notice of Appeal with any AAA office. Following the appeal process the decision rendered by the appeal tribunal may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof.
- SEVERABILITY; WAIVER. If, for whatever reason, a court of competent jurisdiction finds any term or condition in these Terms of Use to be unenforceable, all other terms and conditions will remain unaffected and in full force and effect. No waiver of any breach of any provision of these Terms of Use shall constitute a waiver of any prior, concurrent, or subsequent breach of the same or any other provisions hereof, and no waiver shall be effective unless made in writing and signed by an authorized representative of the waiving party.
- NO LICENSE. Nothing contained on the Site should be understood as granting you a license to use any of the trademarks, service marks, or logos owned by Company or by any third party.
- CALIFORNIA USE ONLY. The Site is controlled and operated by Company from its offices in the State of California. Company makes no representation that any of the materials or the services to which you have been given access are available or appropriate for use in other locations. Your use of or access to the Site should not be construed as Company’s purposefully availing itself of the benefits or privilege of doing business in any state or jurisdiction other than California.
- MODIFICATIONS. Company may, in its sole discretion and without prior notice, (a) revise these Terms of Use; (b) modify the Site and/or the Service; and (c) discontinue the Site and/or Service at any time. Company shall post any revision to these Terms of Use to the Site, and the revision shall be effective immediately on such posting. You agree to review these Terms of Use and other online policies posted on the Site periodically to be aware of any revisions. You agree that, by continuing to use or access the Site following notice of any revision, you shall abide by any such revision.
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. BY USING THE SERVICE OR ACCESSING THE SITE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ THESE TERMS OF USE AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THEM.
September 23, 2018