August 4, 2009

Disclaimers are just to give you a peace of mind

Here is an important facts for everyone. That thing you call a disclaimer which tells the whole world that you are not liable for any injury, damages or even sometimes, death, due to something within your control like a piece of property, a car, a cat, a cow, a blog, a piece of writing or even yourself. All those words that you tell people, if this and this happens, you are not liable. Those things like what I have written down below, at the final part of this blog. All those things, it doesn't really work. It may deter a few uncouth character from doing things to you or whatever is yours but it does not mean they straight away laible for whatever they did to you or yours. It is not automatic.

"Disclaimer is useless", I uttered this in one conference and the look on the faces of the participants were priceless like a Mastercard advertisment. They were getting the lesson from lawyers who have seen that and done that and when they were told this, they were sceptic but accepting the reality. 

Let me break it down.

You have seen the sign "Once broken considered sold" put up in shops. Especially those selling things which can break easily like things made from glasses and even electronic things. It seems that if you break anything, you have to go to the cashier and pay up. Is that a fact? Nope. You don't have to as it may have been an accident in your part. You may have to have an argument with the shopkeeper or those who are attending the shop but you can have your day in court at any time. You can show to the court that you did not mean to do it and it was an accident. You can show that it was a negligence on the part of the shop to not keep something as fragile under lock and key.

If you lose something in our car stolen when you park it in the vicinity of  acar park, just because there was a sign saying they will not be liable for any lost of possessions within your car, would you just let it go? If it happened to me, as I was making the police report to report the theft, I will also claim damages from the car park operator for their negligence in not properly maintaining the safety of the car park. In a lot of cases, the car park operator or even the premise's owner has to pay up.

So, if any of this situation happens to you, do not easily pay up or owned up to the accuser. You might not having to pay for that broken mug or you might get some compensation.

3 comments:

The BoBo said...

When I was taking my Business Legal class we talked about those. These disclaimers are invalid in that we all have an exculpatory claim of innocence. We are free from guilt unless proven. You are dead on with your assessment. Just because a business puts up one of those signs does not mean they don't have liability.

Rick (Ratty) said...

A very good lesson. Most people don't know these things.

Legal Cat said...

Bobo - Yes, they are just for show

Ratty - I try to educate sometimes

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