TERMS OF SERVICE

1. INTRODUCTION

This Site is maintained by Bridge Legal Ventures, LLC (“Bridge Legal”) and provides marketing and referral services to You and various law firms (“Law Firms”). The Site is meant to provide You with information and educational materials about the law, as well as connect You with Law Firms who can provide You with appropriate legal services at Your request (the “Services”). This Site is maintained on behalf of a cooperative of unaffiliated sponsoring law firms (the “Law Firms”) to facilitate the public’s ability to learn about bankruptcy law and to interact with bankruptcy attorneys. In addition to educating the general public about bankruptcy law, we provides users with the ability to submit information about their specific bankruptcy case, and to request to be contacted by one of the sponsoring law firms to discuss their case and to possibly hire it to represent them.

BANKRUPTCYRELIEF.ORG and BRIDGE LEGAL ARE NOT A LAW FIRM.

We does not receive any portion of any lawyer’s or law firm’s fees and any arrangements subsequently made by You and any lawyer or law firm are strictly between You and such party and do not involve us in any way.

2. PURPOSE

THIS WEBSITE IS AN ADVERTISEMENT OF LEGAL SERVICES, and all of the materials and information on the Site are provided for informational purposes only and may not reflect current legal developments or variances in the law of different jurisdictions. Nothing on the Site should be construed as legal advice or used as a substitute for legal advice. We do not provide legal advice. The materials and information on the Site do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the attorneys of the Law Firms, their partners, clients or affiliates. The information in the Site is not guaranteed to be correct, complete or up to date. The Site is not intended to, and does not, constitute or create an attorney-client relationship between You and the attorneys of any of the Law Firms, their partners, employees, agents or affiliates, or any other attorney associated with the Site. Additionally, the mere receipt of an e-mail from or a “post” on the Site does not create an attorney-client relationship.

YOU SHOULD NOT ACT OR RELY ON THE BASIS OF ANY INFORMATION ON THE SITE OR ANY ADVERTISMENT WITHOUT SEEKING AND RETAINING THE ADVICE OF AN ATTORNEY.

3. AGREEMENT

When using the Services, the Agreement between us includes the following:

• These Terms of Service
• Attorney Advertising Disclosures
• Privacy Policy
• Cookie Notice

Please review each document carefully to understand your rights and obligations.

4. CREATING AN ACCOUNT

In order to use most of the Services, You must register for an account.  To create an account, You will be required to provide certain information and You will establish a username and a password. You agree to provide accurate, current and complete information during the registration process and to update such information to keep it accurate, current and complete. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate Your account if any information provided during the registration process or thereafter proves to be inaccurate, not current or incomplete. You are responsible for safeguarding your password.

5. ELIGIBILITY

If You are under the age of 18 or You are not a resident of the United States, You may not create an account or use the Services. If we learn that You are under the age of 18 or are not a resident of the United States, we may delete Your account, including all Content.

6. SUBMISSION OF INFORMATION

By submitting information to us, You agree that we may store, process, and share Your information with third parties, including Law Firms, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and these Terms. Please note that Law Firms are not required to contact You after You submit Your information and we are not responsible if they do not reach out to You.

When You share information publicly with us, You give us and its affiliates a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such Content throughout the world in any media. To the extent such information is attached to a profile on the Site, the foregoing license includes a right to reproduce Your profile, and any name, likeness or photograph contained in such profile. If You submit feedback or suggestions about our Services, we may use Your feedback or suggestions without obligation to You.

PLEASE NOTE: Submitting information to this site does not establish an attorney-client relationship or non-attorney advocate-client relationship.

7. YOUR CONTENT

You may create, upload or submit certain documentation, questions and answers, comments, photos, and other materials (the ““Content”) when you use the Services. You retain all rights in, and are solely responsible for, the Content You provide to us. You are also solely responsible for Your use of such features and use them at Your own risk. We reserve the right to remove or modify Content for any reason, including Content that we believe violates this Agreement.

All Content whether publicly posted or privately transmitted by You and other users of our service, is solely your responsibility. This means that You, and not us, are entirely responsible for all Content that You upload, post, email or otherwise transmit via the Site. We do not control all of the Content posted via the Site and, as such, do not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such Content. Under no circumstances will we be liable in any way for any Content, including, but not limited to, for any errors or omissions in any Content, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Content posted, emailed or otherwise transmitted via the Site. You agree not to upload any Content that is illegal,

NOTE: We will not use any documentation You upload to the Site to share with Law Firms, such as income statements, government identification, or other legal documents for any purpose except to facilitate the communication and services provided to You by the Law Firms.

You may cancel Your account at any time by sending an email to cancellation@bridgelegal.com. If You cancel Your account, we will delete Your data in accordance with our standard practices and the Privacy Policy. Canceling or deleting Your Content on our site will not delete or remove any data from any Law Firms who have received Your Content. Upon cancellation of Your account, all amounts paid and payable to Law Firms through our Services become immediately due and payable unless the Law Firm has otherwise made alternative payments with you.

8. PAYMENTS

You may be asked to make payments to Law Firms using our Services. All payment terms including amounts, schedules, taxes, and other details are determined solely by the Law Firms. You agree to resolve all disputes related to any payments and payment terms directly with the Law Firms.

We have engaged third-party service providers to perform many of the services related to payment processing, including card processing, disbursements, currency exchange, identity verification, fraud analysis, and regulatory compliance.  If there are insufficient funds in your bank account when our provider processes the payment for your purchase, We and/or your Law Firm reserve the right to contact you directly and to seek payment.

9. ACCEPTABLE USE

By submitting information to, reading, participating, or otherwise using the Site, You agree that You will abide by the following rules:

• The Site may only be used in good faith and may not be used to transmit or otherwise make available any information that is false or that You do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements), to threaten, abuse, harass, or invade the rights of any person or entity, to infringe on any person or entity’s intellectual property rights, or in any other way that could reasonably be deemed unethical, illegal, or offensive.
• You may not misidentify Yourself or impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent Your affiliation with a person or entity (e.g., pretend to be a different person or from a different company or organization).
• Unless You have our prior written consent, You will not post advertisements or promotional materials, solicit participants and/or visitors of the Site, reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell or exploit for any commercial purposes, any portion of the Site or its Services, use of the Site or it Services, or access to the Site or its Services.
• You are prohibited from using any type of computer “worm,” “virus” or any other device that is intended or is likely to disrupt, overload, or otherwise impair the workings of any part of the Site. You will not disrupt, circumvent or otherwise attempt to defeat any of the security measures implemented to protect the Services and Your Content. You are not permitted to collect or store personal data about other users unless you have permission or are acting under a power of attorney or other legal authority over such individuals.
• You are not permitted to access the Site for the purpose of data mining or extracting content from the Site beyond Your personal end use.
• You may not forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any Content transmitted through the Site.
• You agree to not harm minors in any way.
• You shall not intentionally or unintentionally violate any applicable local, state, national or international law, and any regulations having the force of law.
• In the event You submit information through the Site, You agree to provide true, accurate, current and complete information and agree to promptly update the information to keep it true, accurate, current and complete. If You provide any information that is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, and/or we have reasonable grounds to suspect that such information is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, we have the right to suspend or terminate Your participation in the Site and/or refuse any and all current or future use of the Site or its services (or any portion thereof).
• You acknowledge that we may or may not pre-screen Content, but that we and our designees shall have the right (but not the obligation) in our sole discretion to prescreen, refuse, or move any Content that is available via the Services. Without limiting the foregoing, we and our designees shall have the right (but not the obligation) to remove any Content that violates this agreement or is otherwise objectionable.

10. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

You acknowledge and agree that the Site and any necessary software used in connection with the Site may contain proprietary and confidential information that is protected by applicable intellectual property and other laws. Except for the limited license contained in paragraph 8 below, nothing in these Terms and Conditions grants or should be construed to grant any licenses or rights, by implication, estoppel or otherwise, under copyright or other intellectual property rights. You agree that all right, title and interest (including all copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents and other intellectual property rights) in this Site and its content belong to us, or our licensers, as applicable. No part of the materials including graphics or logos, available in this Site may be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated or reduced to any electronic medium or machine-readable form, in whole or in part, without specific permission. Except as expressly authorized by us, You further agree not to modify, rent, lease, loan, sell, distribute or create derivative works based on the Site or the software, in whole or in part.

11. INDEMNITY

You agree to indemnify and hold us, and our licensors, subsidiaries, affiliates, equity holders, directors, officers, agents, third party contractors and employees, harmless from all damages, costs, liabilities, and any claim or demand made by any third party, including reasonable attorney’s fees due to or arising out of Content You submit, post to or transmit through the Site, Your use of the Site, Your connection to the Site, Your violation of this agreement, or Your violation of any rights of another person, or due to or arising from such activities carried out by a person using Your account or password, with Your knowledge.

12. TERMINATION

By using the Site, You do not acquire any rights to the Site other than the limited license to use the Site (as set forth in Section 9 above) that can be terminated in accordance with this section. You agree that we, in our sole discretion, may terminate Your password, account (or any part thereof) or use of the Site, and remove and discard any Content within the Site, for any reason, including, without limitation, non-payment, for lack of use, or if we believe that You have violated or acted inconsistently with the letter or spirit of this agreement. We may also in our sole discretion and at any time discontinue providing the Site, or any part thereof, with or without notice. You agree that suspend or terminate Your access to the Site if you violate any provision of this Agreement without prior notice, and acknowledge and agree that we may immediately deactivate or delete Your account and all related Content information and files in Your account and/or bar any further access to such files or the Site. Further, You agree that we shall not be liable to You or any third-party for any termination of Your access to the Site.

13. THIRD-PARTY CONTENT

Third-party content may appear on this Site or may be accessible via links from this Site. We shall not be responsible for and assume no liability for any mistakes, misstatements of law, defamation, omissions, falsehood, obscenity, pornography or profanity in the statements, opinions, representations or any other form of content contained in any third-party content appearing on the Site. You understand that the information and opinions in the third-party content represent solely the thoughts of the author and is neither endorsed by us nor does it reflect our beliefs.

14. DEALINGS WITH ADVERTISERS

Your correspondence or business dealings with, or participation in promotions of, advertisers found on or through the Site, including payment and delivery of related goods or services, and any other terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings, are solely between You and such advertiser. You agree that we shall not be responsible or liable for any loss or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings or as the result of the presence of such advertisers on the Site.

15. COPYRIGHT

We respect the intellectual property of others and ask that you do too. We respond to notices of alleged copyright infringement if they comply with the law, and such notices should be reported using the email below. We reserve the right to delete or disable content alleged to be infringing and terminate accounts of repeat infringers. Our designated agent for notice of alleged copyright infringement on the Services is:

Copyright Agent
Bridge Legal Ventures, LLC

1 South Dearborn, 20th Floor

Chicago, IL 60604

copyright@bridgelegal.com

16. LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES

The Site may contain “hyperlinks” to websites neither owned nor controlled by us and we are not responsible for, and, unless otherwise noted specifically, make no representations or endorsements with respect to these sites or with respect to any service or product associated with these sites. By including these hyperlinks, we do not mean to state or imply that we sponsor, are affiliated with, or are legally authorized to use any trade name, registered trademark, service mark, logo, legal or official seal, or copyrighted symbol that may be reflected in the hyperlinks.

17. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT:

YOUR USE OF THE SITE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. ALL CONTENT AND SERVICES ON THE SITE IS PROVIDED SOLELY ON AN “AS-IS/AS-AVAILABLE” BASIS. TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, SATISFACTORY QUALITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, WE MAKE NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY THAT (i) THE CONTENT AND SERVICE OF THIS SITE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, (ii) THE CONTENT AND SERVICE OF THIS SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE, (iii) THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE SITE WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE, OR (iv) THE QUALITY OF ANY PRODUCTS, SERVICES, INFORMATION, OR OTHER MATERIAL PURCHASED OR OBTAINED BY YOU THROUGH THE SITE IS ACCURATE OR WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS.

WE DO NOT GUARANTY THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF ANY CONTENT OR SERVICES AND WE DO NOT GUARANTY IN ANY SERVICES OR GOODS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SITE WILL BE ERROR-FREE OR UNINTERRUPTED, OR THAT ANY SERVICE OR GOOD WILL CONTINUE TO BE AVAILABLE.
ANY MATERIAL DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THE SERVICE IS DONE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK AND THAT YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF ANY SUCH MATERIAL.

NO INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED BY YOU FROM US OR THROUGH OR FROM THE SITE SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY STATED IN THIS AGREEMENT.

18. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT WE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF REVENUES, PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE, DATA, FAILURE TO REALIZE EXPECTED SAVINGS, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES (EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES), RESULTING FROM: (i) THE USE OR THE INABILITY TO USE THE SITE; (ii) THE COST OF PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS AND SERVICES RESULTING FROM ANY GOODS, DATA, INFORMATION OR SERVICES PURCHASED OR OBTAINED OR MESSAGES RECEIVED OR TRANSACTIONS ENTERED INTO THROUGH OR FROM THE SITE; (iii) INVALID DESTINATIONS, TRANSMISSION ERRORS, OR UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR ALTERATION OF YOUR TRANSMISSIONS OR DATA; (iv) STATEMENTS OR CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTY ON THE SITE INCLUDING ANY LAW FIRM OR ATTORNEY ENGAGED THROUGH THIS SITE; (v) YOUR FAILURE TO RECEIVE ANY THIRD PARTY SERVICES OR PRODUCTS REQUESTED THROUGH THE SITE OR (vi) ANY OTHER MATTER RELATING TO THE SITE. IN NO EVENT ARE WE LIABLE TO YOU FOR AN AMOUNT IN EXCESS OF THE GREATER OF (1) $100 USD or (2) THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU TO US FOR THE SERVICES IN QUESTION, IF ANY.

19. EXCLUSIONS AND LIMITATIONS

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES OR THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES. ACCORDINGLY, SOME OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OF SECTIONS 17 AND 18 MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

20. ENTIRE AGREEMENT

This agreement constitutes the entire agreement between You and us and governs Your use of the Site, superseding any prior agreements between You and us. You also may be subject to additional terms and conditions that may apply when You use or purchase certain other services, affiliate services, third-party content or third-party software.

21. DISPUTES

General. We are not responsible for any legal services offered to You by Law Firms. If your dispute is related to Legal Services, You should attempt to resolve Your dispute with the applicable Law Firm.

Working it Out. If You have a dispute with our Services, we would like to work it out before pursuing more formal dispute resolution. If You have a dispute with us, please contact us at cancellation@bridgelegal.com to work it out first.

Arbitration. We both agree to resolve any claims relating to these Terms or the Services through final and binding arbitration by a single arbitrator, except as set forth under Exceptions to Agreement to Arbitrate below. This includes disputes arising out of or relating to interpretation or application of this “Mandatory Arbitration Provisions” section, including its enforceability, revocability, or validity.

Opt-out of Agreement to Arbitrate. You can decline this agreement to arbitrate by emailing us within 30 days of first registering your account. However, if you agreed to a previous version of these Terms that allowed you to opt out of arbitration, your previous choice to opt out or not opt out remains binding.

Arbitration Procedures. The American Arbitration Association (AAA) will administer the arbitration under its Commercial Arbitration Rules and the Supplementary Procedures for Consumer Related Disputes. The arbitration will be held in the Cook County, Illinois or any other location we agree to.

Arbitration Fees and Incentives. The AAA rules will govern payment of all arbitration fees. We will not seek its attorneys’ fees and costs in arbitration unless the arbitrator determines that your claim is frivolous.

Exceptions to Agreement to Arbitrate. Either party may assert claims, if they qualify, in small claims court in Cook County, Illinois, or any United States county where You live or work. Either party may bring a lawsuit solely for injunctive relief to stop unauthorized use or abuse of the Services, or intellectual property infringement (for example, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or patent rights) without first engaging in arbitration or the informal dispute-resolution process described above. If the agreement to arbitrate is found not to apply to You or Your claim, You agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts in Cook County, Illinois to resolve your claim.

NO CLASS ACTIONS. You may only resolve disputes with us on an individual basis, and may not bring a claim as a plaintiff or a class member in a class, consolidated, or representative action. Class arbitrations, class actions, private attorney general actions, and consolidation with other arbitrations aren’t allowed. If this specific paragraph is held unenforceable, then the entirety of this “Mandatory Arbitration Provisions” section will be deemed void.

22. TIMELY CLAIMS

You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising out of or related to use of this Site, this agreement and/or the relationship between You and us must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred.

23. WAIVER AND SEVERABILITY OF TERMS

Our failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this agreement shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of the agreement is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties’ intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the agreement shall remain in full force and effect.

24. MODIFICATIONS TO THE SITE

We reserve the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Site (or any part of it) with or without notice. In the event of a modification or discontinuance, all information submitted by You and others may be lost. You agree to keep a permanent record of all information provided to us, and You agree that all information submitted to us is at Your sole risk. You agree that we have no responsibility or liability for the deletion or failure to store any Content maintained or transmitted by the Site including without limitation messages and other communications. You agree that we shall not be liable to You or to any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Service.