Welcome to The Stack Project website, located at https://www.thestackproject.org/ (the “Website”) and the mobile application (the “App”) (collectively, the “Site”), owned and operated by The Stack Project, Inc. (“The Stack Project,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). We operate the Site, as well as any other related products, services, content, and functionality, that refer or link to these terms of service and legal terms (the "Terms") as well as certain in-person services that we may provide to you (collectively, the "Services").
By registering for any services provided on the Site or using this Site, you represent that you: (1) are a customer, (2) an adult of 18 or more years of age, (3) have the legal capacity to enter a contract, and (4) agree to comply with and be bound by the following Terms. Please review these Terms carefully. If you do not agree to these Terms. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS, (A) YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO USE THIS SITE,AND (B) DO NOT USE THIS SITE OR REGISTER FOR ANY OF THE SERVICES ON THE SITE.
BY CLICKING THE "I AGREE" OR “I ACCEPT” BUTTON, REGISTERING TO USE THE SERVICES OR SITE, OR BY DOWNLOADING,INSTALLING, OR OTHERWISE ACCESSING OR USING THE SITE OR SERVICES, YOU AGREET HAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTAND AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS. THE MOST CURRENT VERSION OF THESE TERMS,WHICH SUPERSEDES ALL PREVIOUS VERSIONS, CAN BE REVIEWED BY GOING TO https://www.thestackproject.org/terms-of-service. WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO CHANGE THESE TERMS AT ANY TIME AND WITHOUT NOTICE TO YOU.
We’ve also bolded a few areas that talk about important legal rights, including the following:
PLEASE READ THESE TERMS CAREFULLY. THESE TERMSCONTAIN PROVISIONS THAT GOVERN HOW CLAIMS THAT YOU AND WE MAY HAVE AGAINST EACHOTHER ARE RESOLVED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY CLAIMS THAT AROSE ORWERE ASSERTED BEFORE THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS AGREEMENT (DEFINED BELOW). INPARTICULAR, THESE TERMS INCLUDE OUR ARBITRATION AGREEMENT WHICH WILL, WITHLIMITED EXCEPTIONS, REQUIRE ALL DISPUTES BETWEEN US TO BE SUBMITTED TO BINDINGAND FINAL ARBITRATION. UNLESS YOU OPT OUT OF THE ARBITRATION AGREEMENT: (1) YOUWILL BE PERMITTED TO PURSUE CLAIMS AND SEEK RELIEF AGAINST US ONLY ON ANINDIVIDUAL BASIS, AND WILL NOT BE PERMITTED TO PURSUE CLAIMS OR SEEK RELIEF ASA PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION ORPROCEEDING, EXCEPT AS UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS SET FORTH BELOW IN THE SECTIONOF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS ENTITLED “DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND BINDINGARBITRATION”; AND (2) YOU ARE WAIVING YOUR RIGHT TO SEEK RELIEF IN A COURT OFLAW, TO HAVE A JURY TRIAL ON ANY AND ALL CLAIMS OR TO HAVE A JUDGE REVIEW YOURCLAIMS. THIS ARBITRATION AGREEMENT WILL ALSO AFFECT YOUR RIGHT TO PARTICIPATEIN ANY CLASS ACTION LITIGATION AGAINST THE COMPANY. PLEASE SEE THE SECTION OFTHESE TERMS ENTITLED “DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND BINDING ARBITRATION AGREEMENT” FORMORE INFORMATION REGARDING THIS ARBITRATION AGREEMENT, THE POSSIBLE EFFECTS OFTHIS ARBITRATION AGREEMENT, AND HOW TO OPT OUT OF THE ARBITRATION AGREEMENT.
IF YOU SIGN UP FOR A MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTION,THEN YOUR SUBSCRIPTION WILL CONTINUE FOR THE DURATION SET FORTH AT THE TIME OFPURCHASE AND WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY RENEWED FOR ADDITIONAL PERIODS OF THE SAMEDURATION AS THE INITIAL TERM AT THE STACK PROJECT’S THEN-CURRENT FEES FOR THEAPPLICABLE SERVICES UNLESS YOU OPT NOT TO RENEW YOUR SUBSCRIPTION. ANYTERMINATION OF YOUR ACCOUNT WILL NOT CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND IS NOT AN OPTOUT OF THE RENEWAL OF YOUR SUBSCRIPTION. YOU MAY CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION OROPT OUT OF THE RENEWAL OF A SUBSCRIPTION IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 8 BELOW.
Financial Disclaimer. The Stack Project is not a financial advisor, nor do we do provide financial advice OR SERVICES.NO CONTENT, MATERIAL, OR INFOMATION RECEIVED FROM THE STACK PROJECT OR ITSRELATED PROGRAMS IS INTENDED TO BE A SUBSTITUTE FOR PROFESSIONAL FINANCIALADVICE. WE MAY PROVIDE REFERRALS TO SERVICE PROVIDERS THAT PROVIDE FINANCIALSERVICES. The content provided: (1) by The Stack Project, (2) by its related programs, (3) on this Site, and (4) through the Services, that you may receive, are for informational purposes only. In order to make the best financial decision that suits your own needs, you should seek the advice of a licensed financial advisor, if necessary.
1. Agreement. These Terms and any supplemental terms, including the terms of the Privacy Policy (defined below), which are incorporated herein by reference, constitute the agreement (the "Agreement"), and governs your access to and use of the Site. This Agreement may be modified at any time by The Stack Project by posting the modified Agreement to the Site. Any such modifications shall be effective immediately upon posting unless some other effective date is expressly stated. You can view the most recent version of this Agreement at anytime at https://www.thestackproject.org/terms-of-service. Your use of this Site shall constitute and be deemed your unconditional acceptance of this Agreement.
2. Services. The Stack Project offers several programs, including The Stack Financial Empowerment Program, that provides free financial counseling services, including counseling sessions and groups, as well as providing referrals to preferred financial counselors(“Counselor”) (collectively, the “Services”).
Modification of Services. The Stack Project reserves the right, at any time, to modify, suspend, or discontinue the Website (in whole or in part)with or without notice to you. You agree that The Stack Project will not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension, or discontinuation of the Site or any part thereof.
3. Changes to the Services. We may, without prior notice, change, or stop providing the Services or any portion thereof; or create usage limits for the Services or any portion thereof. The Stack Project may permanently or temporarily terminate or suspend your access to the Services or any portion thereof (including the right to cancel any hosted sites) without notice and liability for any reason, including if in our sole determination you violate any provision of these Terms, or for no reason. Upon termination of any portion of the Services for any reason or no reason, you continue to be bound by these Terms until it is terminated. The Stack Project expressly reserves the right to review every Account for excessive space and bandwidth utilization, and to terminate or apply additional fees to those Accounts that exceed allowed levels, in our sole discretion.
4. Privacy. Your use of the Site is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which is hereby incorporated into this Agreement. Please review our Privacy Policy at https://www.thestackproject.org/privacypolicy. The Stack Project reserves the right, and you authorize us, to use and assign all information provided by or collected from you in any manner consistent with our Privacy Policy.
5. Confidentiality. It is agreed that all Personal Information (as defined in the Privacy Policy) given to The Stack Project through the Site or Services, will be used in accordance with the Privacy Policy, and will be kept confidential, with the following exceptions:(1) basic biographical information (i.e. age, sex, race) will be posted with your user ID for others to view; or (2) you actively chose to post your personal information for others to see, in which case the confidentiality clause contained in this Agreement is rendered null and void.
6. Do Not Rely on the Website. Opinions, advice, statements or other comments should not necessarily be relied upon and are not to be construed as professional advice from the Website or The Stack Project. The Website and The Stack Project do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any of the information provided, and are not responsible for any loss resulting from your reliance on such information.
7. Right to Monitor. The Stack Project reserves the right, but is not obligated, to monitor materials posted in any public area and shall have the right to remove any information deemed offensive by our staff. Notwithstanding the foregoing, you remain solely responsible for your use of any information contained on the site.
8. Account. Account Creation. In order to access some of the Services, you may be required to (1) register an account on the Site (“Account”)and you will provide certain personal information, which may include your name, mailing address, email address, gender, age or date of birth, financial history, and other information we may need from you to provide you with the Services (collectively, “User Data”) in the portal during the registration period and create a user name and password; (2) accept these Terms; and(3) accept the terms of The Stack Project Privacy Policy at https://www.thestackproject.org/privacypolicy.
Account Access. Your Account will allow you to access the applicable features on the Site and the Services that we may establish and maintain from time to time and in our sole discretion. We may implement different types of Accounts for different types of Users. You may control your user profile and how you interact with the Services by accessing the functionality that may be made available on your “Account Settings” page. When creating your Account, you must provide accurate and complete information and you agree to maintain and promptly update such information as necessary to keep it true, accurate, current, and complete. You are solely responsible for the activity that occurs on your Account, and you must keep your Account password secure. You are not allowed to provide a third-party access to your Account. You must notify The Stack Project immediately of any breach of security or unauthorized use of your Account. The Stack Project will not be liable for any losses caused by any unauthorized use of your Account. You may never use another user’s Account without permission. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, you acknowledge and agree that you shall have no ownership or other property interest in your Account, and you further acknowledge and agree that all rights in and to your Account are and shall forever be owned by and inure to the benefit of The Stack Project.2.
9. Prohibits Activities. You agree not to engage in any of the following prohibited activities while accessing or using the Services: (a) licensing, sub licensing, selling, leasing, transferring, assigning, copying, distributing, disclosing or otherwise commercially exploiting any part of the Services in any medium, including, without limitation, by providing the Services on a timesharing or service bureau basis or using any automated or non-automated “scraping” to gather information or content from the Services; (b) framing or utilizing framing techniques to enclose any The Stack Project trademarks or the Services(including images, text, page layout or form) of The Stack Project except as expressly permitted by The Stack Project or the function of the Services; (c)taking any action that imposes, or may impose, at our sole discretion an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure, including using any automated system, such as “robots,” “spiders,” “offline readers,” etc. to access the Services in a manner that sends more request messages to The Stack Project’ servers than a human can reasonably produce in the same period of time by using a conventional on-line web browser (except that The Stack Project grants the operators of public search engines revocable permission to use spiders to copy materials from for the sole purpose of and solely to the extent necessary for creating publicly available searchable indices of the materials but not caches or archives of such materials); (d) modifying, translating, adapting, merging, making derivative works of, disassembling, decompiling, decoding, reverse compiling, reverse engineering, or “lookup table ripping” (or similar) any part of the Services (including without limitation, any action by you to access information regarding the underlying structure or technical implementation of the Services through automated means) except to the extent the foregoing restrictions are expressly prohibited by applicable law;(e) transmitting spam, chain letters, or other unsolicited email; (f)attempting to interfere with, compromise the system integrity or security or decipher any transmissions to or from the servers running the Services; (g)impersonating or violating the rights of any third party or taking any fraudulent actions; (h) uploading invalid data, viruses, worms, or other software agents through the Services; (i) collecting or harvesting any personally identifiable information, including account names, from the Services; (j) using the Services for any commercial solicitation purposes; (k)using the Services for the purpose of making any products or services that are competitive with the Services; (l) interfering with the proper working of the Services; (m) accessing any content on the Services through any technology or means other than those provided or authorized by the Services; or (n) by passing the measures we may use to prevent or restrict access to the Services, including without limitation features that prevent or restrict use or copying of any content or enforce limitations on use of the Services or the content therein.
10. Intellectual Property. All content on this Site and in the Services, including without limitation graphics, logos, trademarks, copyrights, images, software and all proprietary rights, is and shall continue to be, the property of The Stack Project or its content suppliers and is protected under applicable copyright, patent, trademark, and other proprietary rights. Any copying, redistribution, use or publication by you of any such content or any part of the Site is prohibited, except as expressly permitted in this Agreement. Under no circumstances will you acquire any ownership rights or other interest in any content by or through your use of this Site. Except for any information that is in the public domain, you are not authorized to reproduce, transmit or distribute the proprietary information from the Site or Services. By posting information to the Site or Services, you represent that you have the right to grant permission for use by The Stack Project.
11. Feedback: By directly sending us any question, comment, suggestion, idea, feedback, or other information about the Services ("Feedback"),you agree to assign to us all intellectual property rights in such Feedback. You agree that we shall own this Feedback and be entitled to its unrestricted use and dissemination for any lawful purpose, commercial or otherwise, without acknowledgment or compensation to you.
12. Right to Use and Access the Site. The Stack Project grants you a limited, revocable, nonexclusive right to use and access this Site and the Services solely for your own personal use and not for republication, distribution, assignment, sublicense, sale, preparation of derivative works, or other use. You agree not to copy content from the Site, reverse engineer or hack into the Site, or use materials, products or services in violation of any law. Your use of this Site is at the discretion of The Stack Project who may terminate your access and use at any time.
13. Mobile App. Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, The Stack Project hereby grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use a compiled code copy of the App on mobile devices owned, leased, or controlled solely by you, for your personal or internal use. To use the App, you must have a mobile device that is compatible with the App. You acknowledge that The Stack Project may from time-to-time issue or require you to upgrade to an upgraded versions of the App. You agree that the terms and conditions of this Agreement will apply to all such upgrades. The foregoing license grant is not a sale of the App or any copy thereof, and The Stack Project or its third-party partners or suppliers retain all right, title, and interest in the App (and all copies thereof).
14. Links to Other Sites. The Site may provide links to other websites. This Site’s Terms or Privacy Policy may not apply to those other websites, which may have their own terms and policies. You should review the terms of use and privacy policies of any other websites that you visit.
15. Compliance with Laws. You agree to comply with all applicable laws regarding your use of the Site. You further agree that information provided by you is truthful and accurate to the best of your knowledge.
16. Indemnification. You agree to indemnify, defend and hold The Stack Project and our officers, licensors, licensors, partners, employees, affiliates, service providers, and web hosting services and third parties harmless from any liability, loss, cost, claim and expense, including but not limited to court cost, reasonable attorney's fees, awards, or settlements, related to or arising out of your violation of this Agreement or use of the Site.
17. Disclaimer. Opinions, advice, statements or other comments should not necessarily be relied upon and are not to be construed as professional advice from The Stack Project. The Stack Project does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any of the information provided and is not responsible for any loss resulting from your reliance on such information.
THE INFORMATION ON THISSITE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS," "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS. YOUAGREE THAT USE OF THIS SITE AND THE SERVICES ARE AT YOUR SOLE RISK. THE STACKPROJECT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANYEXPRESS WARRANTIES, STATUTORY WARRANTIES, AND ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OFMERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. TO THEEXTENT YOUR JURISDICTION DOES NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON WARRANTIES, THISLIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY RELATING TOYOUR USE OF THE SITE AND THE SERVICES SHALL BE TO DISCONTINUE USING THE SITEAND SERVICES.
We do not warrant that the Site, the Services, or its features will be accessible at all times, be uninterrupted, meet your requirements, or that any defects in the Services will be corrected or that it will function in an error free manner. While we strive to provide accurate descriptions of our products and services, we do not warrant that the descriptions, pricing, or other content on the Site are accurate, complete, or current. We reserve the right to correct errors and to cancel any orders that were placed using incorrect descriptions or pricing. We reserve the right to cease operating the Site or any of its features at any time.
18. Limitation of Liability. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL THE STACKPROJECT BE LIABLE OR RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,CONSEQUENTIAL (INCLUDING DAMAGES FROM LOSS OF BUSINESS, LOST PROFITS,LITIGATION, OR THE LIKE), SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, PUNITIVE, OR OTHER DAMAGES, UNDERANY LEGAL THEORY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY RELATING TO THE SITE, YOUR SITEUSE, OR THE CONTENT, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. YOURSOLE REMEDY FOR DISSATISFACTION WITH THE SITE AND/OR CONTENT IS TO CEASE ALL OFYOUR SITE USE.
You may have additional rights under certain laws (including consumer laws) which do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, or the exclusion or limitation of certain damages. If these laws apply to you, the exclusions or limitations in this Agreement that directly conflict with such laws may not apply to you.
19. Applicable Law. You agree that the laws of the state of New York without regard to conflicts of laws provisions will govern this Agreement and any dispute that may arise between you and The Stack Project or its affiliates. Venue shall be the state and federal courts located in New York, New York.
20. Severability. If any provision of this Agreement shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision shall be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that this Agreement will otherwise remain in full force and effect.
21. Entire Agreement. This Agreement constitutes your entire Agreement with The Stack Project with respect to the Site, the Services, and any other related services.
22. Waiver. Failure of The Stack Project to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this Agreement shall not operate as a waiver of such right or provision. Any waiver of this Agreement by The Stack Project must be in writing and signed by an authorized representative of The Stack Project.
23. Relationship of the Parties. Each party is, and shall remain, an independent contractor and nothing contained in this Agreement shall be construed to make either party a partner, joint venturer, employee or agent of the other party, and neither party shall hold itself out as such. Neither party has any right or authority to incur, assume or create, in writing or otherwise, any warranty, liability or other obligation of any kind, express or implied, in the name of or on behalf of the other party.
24. Term. The Agreement is effective beginning when you accept the Terms or first download, install, access, or use the Services, and ending when terminated as described in this section.
25.Termination. If you violate any provision of this Agreement, then your authorization to access the Site, Services and this Agreement automatically terminate. In addition, The Stack Project may, at its sole discretion, terminate this Agreement or your access to the Site or Services, or suspend or terminate your access to the Site or Services, at any time for any reason or no reason, with or without notice, and without any liability to you arising from such termination. You may terminate your access to the Services at any time by deleting your Account.
26.Effect of Termination. Upon termination of this Agreement: (a) your use, access, and license rights will terminate and you must immediately cease all use of the Services; and (b) Sections 5-7, 11-13,17-25, and 28-30 will survive. If your access to the Services have been terminated for a breach of this Agreement, then you are prohibited from accessing the Services through using a different name, email address or other forms of user verification
27. DISPUTERESOLUTION AND BINDING ARBITRATION
i. Applicable Law. This Arbitration Agreement is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act, (9 U.S.C. § 1, et seq.; hereafter the “FAA” or “Act”) and governs all aspects of your relationship with The Stack Project. This agreement reflects a transaction involving commerce within the meaning of the Act. The Act and cases interpreting the Act will govern the interpretation and enforcement of this Dispute Resolution and Binding Arbitration Agreement.
ii. Scope of this Arbitration Agreement. You understand and agree that you and The Stack Project will arbitrate any past, present and future disputes controversies or claims (“Dispute”) relating to The Stack Project, your engagement with, access to or use of The Stack Project’s software, your use of any other services provided by The Stack Project, any advertising or marketing communications regarding The Stack Project, its agents, or its vendors, any products or services sold or distributed through The Stack Project or to any aspect of your relationship or transactions with The Stack Project as a User of our Services or that you may otherwise have against (i) The Stack Project; (ii) The Stack Project’s officers, directors, employees or agents; (iii) The Stack Project’s parent, subsidiary and affiliated companies or entities (and any of their officers, directors, employees or agents); and/or (5) all successors and assigns of any of these persons or entities.
iii. Types of Disputes Subject to this Agreement. The types of Disputes that are covered by this agreement include, but are not limited to, contract claims, tort claims, claims against The Stack Project in any way related to the services or use of The Stack Project’s platform; claims related to your registration for an account to use The Stack Project’s services, claims related to your payment for the services, and claims for violation of any federal, state, or local government law, statute, regulation, or ordinance, except if those claims not arbitrable as a matter of applicable law not preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act. will be resolved by binding arbitration, rather than in court. Except for those limitations set forth below, this Arbitration Agreement shall otherwise apply, without limitation, to all Disputes between you and The Stack Project, including any Disputes that arose or were asserted before the Effective Date of this Agreement.
iv. When Arbitration Does Not Apply. To the extent that any claim is not arbitrable as a matter of applicable law and not otherwise preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act, this arbitration agreement does not apply. Nothing in this Arbitration Policy prevents, or is intended to prevent, the investigation by a federal or state governmental agency of any report, claim or charge related to The Stack Project or your use of its service that otherwise would be required to be arbitrated under this agreement. This arbitration agreement does not prevent federal or state administrative agencies from adjudicating claims and awarding remedies based on those claims, even if this arbitration agreement or other terms of service would otherwise cover the claims. Nothing in this Arbitration Policy prevents or excuses a party from satisfying any required conditions precedent and/or exhausting any required administrative remedies under applicable law before bringing a claim in arbitration which is related to a Dispute relating to The Stack Project or your use of the service.
v. Concurrent Governmental or Administrative Jurisdiction. Nothing in this Arbitration Agreement prevents, or is intended to prevent, the investigation by a federal or state governmental agency of any report, claim or charge related to The Stack Project or your use of its platform that otherwise would be required to be arbitrated under this agreement. This arbitration agreement does not prevent federal or state administrative agencies from adjudicating claims and awarding remedies based on those claims, even if this arbitration agreement or other terms of service would otherwise cover the claims; provided, however, that if you and The Stack Project have completed the arbitration process contemplated by this agreement prior to the date upon which a federal or state administrative agency commences its adjudicative process, the decision of the arbitrator may be submitted by The Stack Project to the administrative agency as evidence that the Dispute giving rise to the investigation or adjudication has been successfully resolved by and between the parties themselves and that the agency should therefore give deference to that arbitration decision.
vi. Conditions Precedent Not Excused. Nothing in this Arbitration Agreement prevents or excuses a party from satisfying any required conditions precedent and/or exhausting any required administrative remedies under applicable law before bringing a claim in arbitration which is related to a Dispute or which relates to The Stack Project, a Service Client, or your use of the platform.
vii. Exception for Small Claims and Intellectual Property Disputes. You and The Stack Project also each retain the right to bring an action in small claims court so long as the matter remains in such court and advances only on an individual (non-class, non-representative) basis; or to seek injunctive or other equitable relief on an individual basis in a federal or state court located in the county in which you resided at the time the events giving rise to the Dispute occurred, including with respect to any dispute, claim or controversy related to the actual or threatened infringement, misappropriation or violation of a party's intellectual property or proprietary rights (such as trademarks, trade dress, domain names, trade secrets, copyrights, and patents).
viii. Attempt to Informally Resolve Disputes Required. You and The Stack Project agree that good-faith informal efforts to resolve disputes often results in a prompt, low-cost and mutually beneficial outcome. To expedite resolution and reduce the cost of any Dispute, before proceeding with arbitration or any matter which is not required to be arbitrated under the terms of this Agreement you and The Stack Project agree to first attempt in good faith to resolve any Dispute (except those Disputes expressly excluded below)informally through negotiation for at least ninety (90) days before initiating any arbitration or court proceeding.
ix. How We Will Conduct Informal Negotiations: You agree that we will personally meet and confer, via telephone or videoconference, to undertake a good-faith effort to resolve informally any Dispute covered by this mutual Arbitration Agreement. If you are represented by an attorney, your attorney may participate in the conference, but you must still also fully participate in the conference.
x. Notice Required to Start Informal Negotiations: If one of us wishes to seek resolution of a Dispute related to any aspect of your relationship with The Stack Project must give notice to the other party in writing of its, his, or her desire for an informal dispute resolution conference. To notify The Stack Project that you intend to initiate an informal dispute resolution conference, you must send written notice to The Stack Project by mail at the address provided in the Notice section of these terms of service or email the request for informal dispute resolution to info@stackproject.org. The notice must provide your name, telephone number associated with your The Stack Project account (if any), the email address associated with your The Stack Project account, and a description of the Dispute.
xi. Timing: The informal conference required by this section will occur within 60days after the other party receives notice of a desire to conduct a conference, unless you and The Stack Project mutually agree to an extension of time. In the interval between the sending of notice and the date of the informal dispute resolution conference, the parties shall be free to attempt to resolve the initiating party’s claims. Engaging in an informal dispute resolution conference is a requirement that must be fulfilled before commencing arbitration or any court proceeding relating to a Dispute. While the informal dispute resolution process takes place, any statute of limitations and any filing deadlines which govern the Dispute shall be tolled until you and The Stack Project agree to (or, alternatively, The Stack Project notifies you inwriting of its intent to), conclude the informal negotiation process. If the informal dispute resolution process does not fully and finally resolve the Dispute within ninety (90) days of the date upon which one party notifies the other of a desire to engage in informal dispute resolution, the parties can agree to continue the informal dispute resolution process or, if they do not reach agreement to do so, conclude the informal dispute resolution process.
xii. The Arbitration Process: You and The Stack Project agree that the following will apply if the informal dispute conference does not end with a full and final resolution of any Dispute governed by this arbitration agreement that is not otherwise exempted from arbitration by the terms of this agreement.
xiii. Notice of Intent to Arbitrate: Before you may begin an arbitration proceeding, you must send notice of an intent to initiate arbitration to The Stack Project. The notice must be in writing and include a certification by you that the pre-filing informal dispute resolution process has been completed. If notice of arbitration is being sent to The Stack Project, it must be sent by email to the attorney who represented The Stack Project in the informal dispute resolution process with you. If The Stack Project did not have an attorney during the informal dispute process, then this notice must be sent by mail to the Notice address provided in The Stack Project’s terms of service. The notice required by this section must include (1) the name, telephone number, mailing address, and e-mail address of the party seeking arbitration; (2) a statement of the legal claims being asserted and the factual bases of those claims; (3) a description of the remedy sought and an accurate, good-faith calculation of the amount in controversy, enumerated in United States Dollars (any request for injunctive relief or attorneys’ fees shall not count toward the calculation of the amount in controversy unless such injunctive relief seeks the payment of money); and (4) the signature of the party seeking arbitration.
xiv. Initiation of Arbitration: The arbitration will be conducted by an arbitrator affiliated with Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services (“JAMS”) under its rules and pursuant to the terms of this Agreement. A demand for JAMS arbitration demand must be submitted to JAMS inwriting and served upon The Stack Project by sending it to the attorney who represented The Stack Project in the informal dispute resolution process with you. If The Stack Project did not have an attorney during the informal dispute process, then this notice must be sent by mail to the Notice address provided in The Stack Project’s terms of service.
xv. Time Limits for Commencing Arbitration: Any party to this Arbitration Agreement asserting that a Dispute or other type of claim exists by and between you and any The Stack Project Party must give written notice of the dispute and/or claim to the other party not later than the expiration of the statute of limitations that the law prescribes for resolution of the type of Dispute at issue between the parties; provided, however, that the statute of limitations shall be tolled during the time that the parties are engaged in the informal dispute resolution process set forth above. Filing a government complaint will not extend the statute of limitations for commencing arbitration except to the extent required by applicable law not preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act. The parties acknowledge that they are encouraged to give written notice of any Dispute as soon as possible after the event or events in dispute so that arbitration of any disputes may take place promptly. The Arbitrator shall resolve all disputes regarding the timeliness or propriety of the demand for arbitration.
xvi. Selection of the Arbitrator: The arbitrator will be selected utilizing the rules for appointment in effect at JAMS at the time arbitration is initiated. You and The Stack Project will each have those rights to participate in the selection of a neutral arbitrator provided for by JAMS’s rules. If no arbitrator is available through JAMS to arbitrate, the parties will then proceed with arbitration through either JAMS or another alternative arbitral forum.
xvii. Rules to be Used in Arbitration: The arbitration will be commenced and conducted under JAMS’ Comprehensive Arbitration Rules & Procedures("JAMS Rules"). You may review these rules at JAMS website (https://www.jamsadr.com/rules-comprehensive-arbitration/#Rule-7). In the event that an alternative arbitral forum is required to be chosen for any reason, the arbitration rules used by that alternative forum for the type of Dispute at issue shall apply to the arbitration.
xviii. Costs of Arbitration: Your duty to pay arbitration fees and your share of arbitrator compensation will be governed by the JAMS Rules (and, where appropriate, limited by JAMS Rules) governing the particular type of dispute. All disputes regarding the payment of arbitrator or arbitration-organization fees, including the timing of such payments and remedies for nonpayment, shall be determined exclusively by the arbitrator, and not by any court.
xix. Location for Arbitration: The arbitration may be conducted through the submission of documents, by phone or remotely online or by videoconference or, if the arbitrator so orders, in person. In the event that the arbitrator orders that the arbitration take place in person, the arbitration will take place in the county (or comparable governmental unit) in which you last received services. No Dispute subject to this arbitration agreement will be subject to in-person arbitration in any other venue or forum absent agreement between you and The Stack Project.
xx. Powers and Duties of the Arbitrator: Only the arbitrator, and not any federal, state, or local court or agency, shall have the authority to resolve any Dispute. This power and authority includes the authority to resolve all matters relating to the interpretation, applicability, validity, breach, enforceability, or formation of this arbitration agreement, including without limitation any claim that all or part of this arbitration agreement is void or voidable. The arbitrator shall have exclusive authority to resolve all threshold arbitrability questions relating to a Dispute.
xxi. Procedural Decisions During Arbitration: The arbitrator shall have the sole authority to rule upon requests for discovery or make procedural rulings as provided for under JAMS rules, and to consider and rule upon motions brought by either party which are dispositive of all or part of any Dispute. The arbitrator will have the authority to award, on an individual basis, compensatory monetary damages and any non-monetary remedy or relief available to an individual under applicable law, the arbitral forum’s rules, and The Stack Project’s terms of service. The arbitrator has the same authority to award relief on an individual basis that a judge in a court of law would have; provided, however, that the arbitrator shall have no power to award punitive or exemplary damages except where permitted by statute, and you and The Stack Project waive any right to recover punitive and/or exemplary damages.
xxii. Statement of Decision: Upon the conclusion of the arbitration process, the arbitrator will issue a decision about the Dispute in writing but need not provide a statement of the reasons for the decision unless you or The Stack Project request one. If requested, the arbitrator will include in his or her statement of decision will include the essential findings and conclusions on which any award (or decision not to render an award) is based, including the calculation of any damages awarded. The arbitrator’s decision is final and binding on you and The Stack Project.
xxiii. Non-Precedential Nature of Award: The arbitrator’s award shall be binding only among the parties to the arbitration. The award shall have no preclusive effect in any other arbitration or other proceeding involving a different party and may not be used by any party to the arbitration as evidence in any subsequent or different arbitration or in any court proceeding other than one arising from or relating to the Dispute which resulted in the arbitration award.
xxiv. Mutual Assent to Court Proceedings in Furtherance of Arbitration: By accepting this arbitration agreement, you and The Stack Project mutually consent to the personal and subject matter jurisdiction of the federal and state courts located in the county (or comparable governmental unit) in which the address you last received services is located. By accepting this arbitration agreement, you and The Stack Project mutually consent to the jurisdiction of the federal and state courts solely for the purposes of (a)compelling arbitration pursuant to the terms of this agreement; (b) staying any pending court proceeding pending arbitration; or (c) to confirm, modify, vacate and/or enter judgment on any award made by the arbitrator.
xxv. Waiver of Court or Jury Trial. BY AGREEING TO ARBITRATE, YOU AND THECOMPANY ARE EACH GIVING UP ANY CONSTITUTIONAL AND STATUTORY RIGHTS TO GO TOCOURT AND TO HAVE ANY DISPUTE HEARD THERE BY A JUDGE OR JURY. You and The Stack Project are instead electing to have any and all of your claims and disputes against each other resolved by arbitration, except as expressly specified in these terms of service. You and The Stack Project are making this election knowing that there is no judge or jury in arbitration proceedings, and that court review of an arbitration award is limited.
xxvi. Waiver of Right to Participate in Third-Party, Class or Consolidated Actions. IF YOU AGREE TO ARBITRATION WITH THE STACK PROJECT, YOU ARE AGREEING INADVANCE THAT NEITHER YOU NOR THE STACK PROJECT WILL PARTICIPATE IN, OR SEEK TORECOVER MONETARY OR OTHER RELIEF IN, ANY CLASS, COLLECTIVE, AND/ORREPRESENTATIVE LAWSUIT. YOU AND THE STACK PROJECT AGREE TO WAIVE ANY RIGHT TORESOLVE ANY DISPUTE, CONTROVERSY OR CLAIM WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THIS ARBITRATIONAGREEMENT ON A CLASS, COLLECTIVE, OR REPRESENTATIVE BASIS.
xxvii. If Waiver Deemed Unenforceable: If for any reason this waiver of class or consolidated actions is deemed invalid or unenforceable with respect to a particular Dispute, neither you nor The Stack Project is entitled to arbitration of such Dispute. Instead, all such Disputes will then be resolved in a court of law unless you and The Stack Project agree to resolve the Dispute in another fashion.
xviii. Class Action Settlement: This waiver of class or consolidated action does not prevent The Stack Project or you from entering into, or participating in, a class-wide settlement of claims.
xxix. Third-Party Cases: Cases may be filed against The Stack Project that attempt to assert individual or class-action claims against the company. BY ACCEPTING THE STACK PROJECT’S TERMS,YOU AGREE NOT TO PARTICIPATE IN SUCH CASES AS A PARTY, EXCEPT AS IT RELATES TOA CLASS-WIDE SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS.
xxx. Batch Arbitrations: If within any 30-day period 100 or more similar arbitration demands against The Stack Project are submitted to an arbitration provider selected in accordance with The Stack Project’s Dispute Resolution and Binding Arbitration party and presented by, or with the assistance, of the same law firm or organization, the arbitration provider shall (i) group the arbitration demands into batches of no more than 100 demands per batch (or, to the extent there are less than 100 arbitration demands left over after the batching described above, a final batch consisting of the remaining demands); and (ii) provide for resolution of each batch as a single arbitration with one set of filing and administrative fees and one arbitrator assigned per batch. You agree to cooperate in good faith with The Stack Project and the arbitration provider to implement such a batch approach to resolution and arbitration fees. Except as provided for here, YOU AND THE STACK PROJECT AGREE THAT ALL DISPUTES WITHINTHE SCOPE OF THIS ARBITRATION AGREEMENT MUST BE ARBITRATED ON AN INDIVIDUALBASIS AND MAY NOT BE ARBITRATED ON A CLASS OR COLLECTIVE BASIS EXCEPT AS SETFORTH IN THIS AGREEMENT. CLAIMS OF MORE THAN ONE CUSTOMER OR USER CANNOT BEARBITRATED OR LITIGATED JOINTLY OR CONSOLIDATED WITH THOSE OF ANY OTHERCUSTOMER OR USER EXCEPT AS SET FORTH IN THIS AGREEMENT.
xxxi. Opting out of the Arbitration Agreement: If you are a new customer of The Stack Project who is creating a The Stack Project account for the first time, you may opt out of this Arbitration Agreement. If you do so, neither you nor The Stack Project can force the other to arbitrate as a result of this Agreement. To optout, you must notify The Stack Project in writing no later than the earlier of(1) 30 days after first creating your The Stack Project account or (2) 30 days after your first use of the services you accessed through The Stack Project. Your written notice must include your name and address, your The Stack Project username (if any), the email address you currently use to access your The Stack Project account (if you have one), and telephone number. Your written notice must also contain a clear statement that you wish to opt out of this Arbitration Agreement. You must send written notice of your desire to opt-out to The Stack Project by email to info@stackproject.org.This is the only way in which you, as a new user of The Stack Project’s services, may opt out of this Arbitration Agreement. If you opt out of this Arbitration Agreement, all other parts of The Stack Project’s Terms and Conditions will continue to apply to you.
xxxii. Opting Out for Existing Customers: If you are an ongoing customer of The Stack Project, and you receive notice from the company of a change to these “Dispute Resolution and Binding Arbitration” terms of service, you may also opt out of the new version of the arbitration agreement by following the procedures set forth above for opting out if you were a new user. However, as an ongoing customer, your choice to opt out of any new version of the “Dispute Resolution and Binding Arbitration” terms of service has no effect on any previous, other, or future arbitration agreements that you may have with us. If you accepted a previous version of these Terms that included an arbitration agreement and did not timely opt out of the arbitration agreement reflected in that previous version, you remain bound by the last arbitration agreement you agreed to. Upon receipt of a valid opt-out notice from you, The Stack Project will provide you with a copy of the arbitration agreement from the last version of The Stack Project’s terms of service that you accepted.
xxxiii. Modification: Notwithstanding any provision in the Agreement to the contrary, we agree that if The Stack Project makes any future material change to this Arbitration Agreement, the modification will not apply to any Dispute for which you had already given notice of the claim to The Stack Project prior to the effective date of the change.
xxxiv. Confidentiality: All aspects of the arbitration proceeding, and any ruling, decision, or award by the arbitrator, will be kept strictly confidential for the benefit of all parties except to the degree that disclosure of the existence of an arbitration and subsequent arbitration award is necessary for you or The Stack Project to seek vacation, modification, confirmation and/or enforcement of the award in court.
xxxv. Severability: If a court or the arbitrator decides that any term of this Arbitration Agreement (other than the subsection above titled “Waiver of Right to Participate in Class or Consolidated Actions”) is invalid or unenforceable, the parties agree to replace such term or provision with a term or provision that is valid and enforceable and that comes closest to expressing the intention of the invalid or unenforceable term or provision, and this Dispute Resolution by Binding Arbitration provision will be enforceable as so modified. If a court or the arbitrator decides that any of the provisions in the subsection above titled “Waiver of Right to Participate in Third-Party, Class or Consolidated Actions” are invalid or unenforceable, the remaining portions of this agreement to Dispute Resolution by Binding Arbitration shall remain valid.
xxxvi. Survival of this Agreement. This Arbitration Agreement will survive the termination of your relationship with The Stack Project and shall continue to govern the handling of all Disputes after such termination, unless and until a new agreement between you and The Stack Project expressly terminates the arbitration agreement.
28. Contact Information:
The Stack Project, Inc.
gethelp@stackproject.org