[Dixielandjazz] WOULD YOU SIGN THIS CONTRACT ?

[Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis]

Although I know it's not right to blame the performers but in this case I 
think sometimes it's appropriate.

Venue operators are at the mercy of performers when they do outrageous 
things.  When Janet Jackson had a costume malfunction it was the network and 
individual stations along the line that were fined. As I see it they didn't 
have anything to do with it.  To top it all, I think it was yesterday, 
congress raised the penalty for such things.

Let's say that one of us decided that it would be clever to hit one of the 
audience with a musical instrument.  Not only the person doing the act would 
be sued but the venue as well for hiring you and that you were acting as 
their agent.

These kind of suits happen every day.  Some musical groups represent the 
lunatic fringe of society where drugs and violence happen and generate 
potential lawsuits on a regular basis.

If you thought that your fate and income were at the whim of someone else's 
ding bat actions you might try to protect yourself legally if at all 
possible.

I'm afraid you will see more and more of this.  The only defense is to not 
sign it and if enough people don't then they will remove it if they want 
entertainment. or sign and don't do bizarre things.  I would consult a 
lawyer or two for the best course.

I think that you will find the word "negligence" to be the key word in the 
whole thing.  This means that you have to tape down the wires so no one 
trips or you don't stack speaker cabinets four high so they will fall on 
someone  or that you don't invite people on stage who might fall or be 
injured.  An example: if you know that teen age girls might rush the stage 
and you don't provide adequate security to prevent it you and the venue 
could be held liable.

If someone has acted in a reasonable manner and has taken precautions to 
prevent injury I would think that it would be difficult to prove negligence. 
Even so it would be expensive to defend yourself.
Larry
St. Louis
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve barbone" <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
To: "DJML" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2006 5:02 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] WOULD YOU SIGN THIS CONTRACT ?


> Here's the latest in a series of Onerous Contract Provisions that Barbone
> Street has come across recently. The word "Artist" refers to The Barbone
> Street Jazz Band:
>
> -----
> SECTION THREE - INDEMNIFICATION
>
> "The Artist agrees to indemnify, defend and save and hold harmless the
> Township, its supervisors, officers, employees, volunteers and 
> contractors,
> from and against, and to reimburse the Township, its supervisors, 
> officers,
> employees, volunteers and contractors, with respect to any and all claims,
> demands, causes of action, losses, damages, liabilities, costs and 
> expenses,
> including reasonable attorney's fees, asserted against or incurred by the
> Township, its supervisors, officers, employees, volunteers and 
> contractors,
> arising out of, or resulting from or occurring in connection with, the
> Artist's performance under this agreement, whether or not caused in part 
> by
> the active or passive negligence or other fault of a party indemnified
> hereunder."
> -----
>
> We did not sign it. Their attorney would neither delete nor modify it and
> gave me a five day ultimatum to sign or opt out of the performance. I
> e-mailed an immediate go to hell response to their attorney, in a nice way
> of course, with an explanation of why the provision is so onerous. :-) 
> VBG.
>
> And sent a very nice e-mail to the Park & Recreation folks who had booked 
> us
> 4 years running that I regretted the inconvenience that our opting out 
> would
> cause for them.
>
> This is one of the most onerous contract provisions I have ever seen in 
> both
> my day gig life as a Lawyer and in my musical life. In effect it makes the
> band responsible for defending the Township against any lawsuit that might
> arise during the concert, whether or not the fault of the band and even if
> caused by the negligence of the Township.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
>
>
>
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