I'm providing copywriting services as part of my regular employment for a client having a contest on a website. Part of the "copy" I've been asked to provide are the terms of service, a privacy policy, and a confidentiality policy. I am not a lawyer. If something goes wrong here, am I possibly liable for any damages, or am I sheltered from that because I was asked to do so in the normal course of employment? If anyone has a quick answer, that would help out a lot. I'm also going to consult a lawyer, but I wanted to be well prepared to save time. (as we all know, consultations are not cheap) Thanks!
If you are 'employed' I guess its not your liability. But I think you should not do it yourself and leave it to an experienced lawyer. The reason: I find discrepancies in your description. You say that you are 'regularly employed', however you referred to the other person(who is availing your services) as 'Client'. If you were 'employed', he would not be a 'client', but an 'employer'. Please don't feel offended, but framing legal agreements requires that you should be very careful with what words you use. If you use the incorrect word, you are actually changing a whole clause or may be more than one. You cannot argue in the court that 'Oh, but I actually meant that....' Clearly, playing with words, and that too in the court of Law is not for you. Again, I may have been brutally frank in my reply but I just wish that you don't take that job as seem to be not good at it. No offence meant. BTW, I am NOT a lawyer. Note: I just realized that I reside in India where as you in The USA. So I don't know if the term 'Client' is synonymous with 'Employer' in U.S.A. However I don't think that could be possible.
I work for an employer, the employer is asking me to write copy for the employer's client, just to clarify. And no offense taken, I understand it's a dicey situation, that's why I'm asking for advice in case anyone has been in a similar situation! Thanks
Hmmm, in that case. no liabilities to YOU legally. But your employer organization can come under fire, and then you may have to face the wrath, if not legally. And I hope your employer would be paying for your consultation with the lawyer.
Indeed, if you do this as part of your job for your employer, it is your employer/company who could be liable versus the client. However, as a good rule of thumb, if you don't feel comfortable writing this, you should just say it to your employer. The very fact that you posted this thread shows that you're not sure you should be the one writing this. Your instinct is always a good thing to follow
I think you are probably OK but not for the reasons given above. The fact that you are an employee does nothing to insulate you from liability. Although an injured party will usually go after the employer because it has more assets, there is nothing stopping an injured party from going after the employee. This is no different than you running a stop sign in a company car and injuring a pedestrian. The company is liable for your actions since you were on company business, but you are also liable since you were the one who was negligent. If your company happened to be uninsured and nearly bankrupt, and you were independently wealthy, I'm sure you would be named as a defendant in any lawsuit arising out of the accident. So why do I say you are probably OK? You can only be liable if you breach some obligation to the client (such as rendering your service negligently). Since you are not a lawyer, the client should have pretty low expectations about your work. As long as you use reasonable care, the fact that the terms and conditions or privacy statement miss some essential legal elements and are basically junk should be the client's fault for hiring you to write those sections in the first place. I find it hard to believe that a judge would find either you or your employer liable for "malpractice" since the client presumably knew you were not lawyers and knew that you were not hiring lawyers to draft those sections for him. I don't think the client is being particularly smart, but if I were in your shoes and felt that I did a reasonable job, I wouldn't lose sleep over it, even if you theoretically have some exposure.