Legal Briefing With Ken Kirschenbaum

Explaining the importance of errors and omission insurance.

Bullet points that can help determine if the risk of dealing with a seller justifies the purchase price.

Your action plan in the event your accounts are pilfered.

Entering into a buy-sell transaction? Learn fundamental steps to protect your assets.

Ken Kirschenbaum offers a nine-point checklist for alarm companies to have a successful 2012.

For those who are concerned about competition, it's particularly irritating when that competition comes from someone you have introduced to the subscriber. I am referring to someone who is supposed to service the subscriber on your behalf and not for the employee's or subcontractor's benefit.

Sometimes a security company gets caught in the middle when there is a dispute between a client and the local AHJ (authority having jurisdiction). In one such incident, the AHJ sent a letter to a customer stating that unless action was taken responder services would cease.

There is a reason the exculpatory clause is in every alarm contract. The right to contract away liability for your own negligence is recognized and enforced in all jurisdictions and has a firm public policy basis. Educating yourself and your subscribers (their lawyers and insurance brokers too) is essential for conducting the most important aspect of your business — selling RMR contracts.

CCTV is not new as an electronic product or service. Though like all electronic equipment, this product continues to develop technologically, offering ever-better clarity, data transmission and reliability to prove its usefulness. The choice of products is staggering and the service options are expanding in ways that can complicate legal implications.

Too often ignored by alarm dealers, the three-day notice of cancellation provision is required in every state. Even if a state hasn't enacted its own three-day notice of cancellation statute there is a federal law that applies.

Despite contract language that should discourage all but the most adventurous litigants, lawsuits against alarm companies are driven by the subscriber's (or often their insurance company) claim that the alarm system is designed and intended to prevent loss.

Lots of things are said during a sales presentation; sales puffery is common in all industries, and the alarm industry is no exception. However, not every industry is governed by contract the way the alarm industry is.

I would like to examine dealer programs, again. There are several programs out there to choose from and finding the right fix for you may not be as easy as you think. There can be competing issues that make the selection more or less appealing, depending on what your goals are.

Often our office is contacted by a security business looking for the "end-all, be-all" of contracts ...

So word is out that Verizon is going into the home security business. We've seen this before, of course, when telecommunication companies decided they had the heads-up and the means to provide the service. So why not?

We all know that the alarm business is extremely competitive. Unlike home improvement contractors that can get away with 100-percent markups, alarm companies often install alarm systems for cost, below cost or for free.

As many of you know, the Brink’s Home Security Authorized Dealer Program changed names after a long run and became Broadview. Shortly after weathering that adjustment, Broadview sold to ADT. The transition has placed many of those dealers in a quandary. Let’s take a closer look.

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