need to sign contract / special provision for cameras in prison May 17, 2017

KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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need to sign contract / special provision for cameras in prison
May 17, 2017
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need to sign contract
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Ken,
    Our customer signed a Commercial All in One Agreement, but my sales guy forgot to sign it.
Is it OK if the agreement has only the customer's signature?
Raz M
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Response
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    Best advice is to have your contract signed, by anyone authorized to sign it, and send fully executed contract to the subscriber.  
    Unfortunately this question sometimes doesn't come up until there is a problem, either in payment by the subscriber, early cancellation or a loss claimed by the subscriber.  Technically the alarm company's performance under the contract would most likely be held to be sufficient ratification or evidence of acceptance of the agreement.  This is a better argument when the subscriber is a commercial subscriber because a residential subscriber will also be relying on consumer laws that require that a fully executed contract be provided to the consumer to seal the transaction.
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special provision for cameras in prison
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Ken,
    As always, thank you for sharing your input with integrators on current laws and considerations for special (or not so special) circumstances. So helpful!
    We use your Commercial All-in-One Agreement and we are typically doing CCTV / access and intrusion systems in most any kind of environment. (schools, medical, financial, industrial etc.)
We are submitting a bid for a new CCTV system in a detention facility (first time for that kind of environment / project for us). It’s an average size facility with around 250 inmates – not-ultra-high security facility. (not a prison for long—term inmates).
    Question, do we need to consider any special language in the contract for that kind of facility / install?  
 Please withhold name/address
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Response
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    The Commercial All in One will work well for this installation and service, if you can get the subscriber [who may be governmental agency - though many prisons are privately operated].  You should also use the Disclaimer Notice because in this environment it is important that the subscriber acknowledge that only the cameras agreed upon will be installed and that only limited parts of the facility will be covered by the surveillance.  How those cameras are monitored may be another issue that may arise.  It's not likely that any inmate will claim any "third party" beneficiary rights under the contract.  Unlike a residential tenant the inmate didn't chose the facility because of its camera system or other security.  
    Be mindful that the camera system may actually be critical in this facility and retrieval of data may be important, so if you're responsible for transmission and storage be sure that's in your Schedule of Equipment and Services.  The printed terms in the All in One are already sufficient to cover these issues; your butt is protected, which may also be critical considering the facility. 
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THE ALARM EXCHANGE

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
516 747 6700
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com
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