User Agreement and Privacy Policy

Part 1 · Terms of Use

1. Your agreement

These Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy in Part 2 (together, the "Agreement") are a binding contract between you and LIZ. You accept the Agreement when you check the box agreeing to it, and by using any part of the Services. If you do not agree, do not use the Services.

If you use the Services for someone else, such as staff entering a client's answers, you confirm you have their permission, and you accept this Agreement both for yourself and for them.

2. Who we are and what the Services are

"LIZ," "we" and "us" mean LIZ BREAK FREE, a California nonprofit public benefit corporation based in Fresno, California. The "Services" are lizbreakfree.org, the form wizard at forms.lizbreakfree.org, the send-to-sheriff page, the e-filing portal at efile.lizbreakfree.org, and every document, instruction sheet, checklist and message they produce.

The Services are a self-help tool. You answer questions, and the software places your answers on California Judicial Council forms and related documents.

3. We do not give legal advice

LIZ IS NOT A LAW FIRM, AND NOTHING IN THE SERVICES IS LEGAL ADVICE. Specifically:

• No attorney-client relationship is created between you and LIZ, or between you and any attorney who is a director, volunteer, employee or advisor of LIZ, unless that attorney signs a separate written engagement with you.
• Your communications with the Services are not protected by attorney-client privilege.
• The questions, help text, explanations, form choices and pre-filled answers are general information. They are based on your answers and on public court information sheets, not on a review of your situation by a lawyer.
• We do not review your answers or your forms for accuracy, completeness, legal sufficiency or strategy.
• We do not tell you which orders to request, whether you qualify, what to say, or whether to file at all. Those are your decisions.
• Laws, court rules and forms change. We do not promise the Services reflect the most current version of any of them.

For advice about your situation, talk to a California attorney or your court's free self-help center (selfhelp.courts.ca.gov/find).

LIZ recommends that you talk to a lawyer or your court's free self-help center about any legal question before you use the Services. If you use the Services without doing so, you are choosing to proceed without legal advice. You agree that you are not relying on LIZ for legal advice, and that it would not be reasonable to rely on any part of the Services as legal advice.

4. Fees

There is no court filing fee for a domestic violence restraining order. LIZ charges a document assistance fee of $250.00. With your agreement, the wizard lists this fee on DV-100 item 23 and attaches a LIZ invoice, asking the judge to order the respondent to pay it. If the court does not order the respondent to pay this fee, LIZ automatically and unconditionally waives it. LIZ will never try to collect this fee, or any other service fee, from you.

You are responsible for any other costs, including any e-filing charges shown to you before you file, copy fees, and service fees not waived by law. Donations to LIZ are voluntary and never required to use the Services.

5. Your responsibilities

You agree that:

• Everything you enter is true and complete to the best of your knowledge. Most of these forms are signed under penalty of perjury, and false statements can lead to criminal charges, denial of your request, or orders against you.
• You will read every page of every document before you sign, file or serve it, and you alone are responsible for what you file.
• You are responsible for meeting every deadline, filing correctly, having the papers served, and going to your court date.
• You will not use the Services to harass anyone, to file a false or bad-faith request, to enter another person's information without authority, or to break any law.
• You will not copy, resell, reverse-engineer, overload, or try to break into the Services.

Your data. You consent to LIZ collecting the statistical record described in Part 2, and to LIZ's administrative access to documents filed through the e-filing portal. You grant LIZ a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free license to collect, keep, analyze, and publish in aggregate the statistical record and anything derived from it, for any purpose consistent with the Privacy Policy. Once a record has been sent, this consent cannot be withdrawn for that record.

6. Your safety

THE SERVICES ARE NOT AN EMERGENCY SERVICE. IF YOU ARE IN DANGER, CALL 911. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233 (TTY 1-800-787-3224).

The Quick Exit button leaves the page and clears your answers from the page, but it cannot erase your browser history, downloads, emails or other traces on your device or accounts. If someone may check your device, use a safer one. The respondent will receive copies of most of what you file. Any form or helper page that says who will see an answer is a general guide, not a promise.

Assumption of risk. You understand that asking for a restraining order carries risks, including retaliation by the respondent, disclosure of your information to the respondent and the public, and legal consequences of what you file. You knowingly and voluntarily assume all of those risks.

7. Courts, sheriffs and other third parties

Courts, sheriffs and marshals, the courts' electronic filing systems, wireless phone companies and email providers are not part of LIZ. We do not control whether they accept, process, serve, or act on your papers, or how quickly. The e-filing portal at efile.lizbreakfree.org runs on a platform licensed from Greenfiling. When you create a login there, you also agree to Greenfiling's own terms of service and privacy policy, which govern that platform. When you send papers from your own email or device, that transmission is between you and them. Links to other websites are for convenience only, and we are not responsible for their content or practices.

8. No warranties

THE SERVICES AND EVERY DOCUMENT THEY PRODUCE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITH ALL FAULTS. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, LIZ DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. We do not promise that the Services will be error-free, uninterrupted or secure; that any form will be accepted by a court or sheriff; that any order will be granted; or that any result will follow from using them.

9. Limitation of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, NEITHER LIZ NOR ANY OF ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, VOLUNTEERS, ATTORNEYS, AGENTS, CONTRACTORS, DONORS OR SUCCESSORS (THE "LIZ PARTIES") WILL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS, INJURY OR HARM OF ANY KIND, ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO THE SERVICES. This includes, without limitation:

• the denial, delay, dismissal or terms of any order;
• errors or omissions in any form or document;
• missed deadlines, failed service, or rejected filings;
• anything the respondent or any other person does;
• the actions or inaction of any court, sheriff, provider or other third party;
• any loss, exposure or unauthorized access to information; and
• reliance on any information in the Services.

THE LIZ PARTIES' TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATED TO THE SERVICES IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF THE AMOUNT YOU PERSONALLY PAID LIZ IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM, OR $100. These limits apply whatever the legal theory (contract, tort, negligence, strict liability, statute or otherwise), even if we were told the harm was possible, and even if a remedy fails of its essential purpose.

10. Release and waiver of claims

To the fullest extent permitted by law, you release, waive and forever discharge the LIZ Parties from all claims, demands, damages, losses and liabilities of every kind, known or unknown, that arise from or relate to: your use of the Services; any information, explanation or help text that you or anyone treats as legal advice; the content, accuracy, selection or completeness of any form or document; the filing, service or outcome of any case; and any other effect of using the Services.

You expressly waive the benefit of California Civil Code section 1542, which states: "A general release does not extend to claims that the creditor or releasing party does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release and that, if known by him or her, would have materially affected his or her settlement with the debtor or released party." You waive any similar law of any other place.

11. Indemnification

To the fullest extent permitted by law, you will defend, indemnify and hold harmless the LIZ Parties from and against all claims, demands, suits, losses, damages, liabilities, costs and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) brought by any third party, including the respondent, that arise from or relate to:

• information you entered or documents you signed, filed or served;
• any false, misleading or incomplete statement you made;
• your breach of this Agreement or violation of any law; or
• your use of the Services on behalf of another person.

LIZ may choose its own counsel and control the defense of any claim, and you will cooperate with it.

12. Limits of this Agreement

Nothing in this Agreement limits any liability that California law does not allow to be limited, including liability for a party's own fraud, willful injury, gross negligence, or violation of law (Civil Code § 1668). If any part of sections 8 to 11 is not enforceable as written, it will be enforced to the greatest extent the law allows.

13. Age requirement

You must be 18 or older to accept this Agreement. A person aged 12 to 17 may use the Services only if a parent, legal guardian or other adult reads and accepts this Agreement for them. That adult agrees to be bound by this entire Agreement, including the release (section 10) and indemnification (section 11), both personally and for the minor, and is responsible for the minor's use of the Services. No one under 12 may use the Services.

By checking the age box, you state that you are 18 or older, or that you are the adult accepting for a minor. LIZ may rely on that statement and is not responsible for any consequence of a false one.

14. Changes

We may change, suspend or end any part of the Services at any time. We may update this Agreement by posting a new version with a new effective date. The version you agreed to governs your use of the Services in that session; a new version applies the next time you agree to it.

15. Governing law, arbitration, class and jury waiver, and time limit

California law governs this Agreement, without regard to conflict-of-law rules; the Federal Arbitration Act governs this section.

Any dispute between you and LIZ or any LIZ Party that relates to the Services or this Agreement will be resolved by binding arbitration, on an individual basis, and not in court. The arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules and held in Fresno County, California, or by video. The arbitrator decides all questions, including whether a dispute must be arbitrated, except that a court decides whether the class waiver below is enforceable. Either party may instead bring an individual claim in small claims court.

YOU AND LIZ EACH WAIVE THE RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY. YOU MAY BRING A CLAIM AGAINST THE LIZ PARTIES ONLY IN YOUR INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY CLASS, COLLECTIVE OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING, IN ARBITRATION OR IN COURT.

If the class waiver is found unenforceable for a claim, that claim proceeds in court and everything else stays in arbitration. A claim for public injunctive relief, if the law does not allow it to be waived, will be decided by a court after the arbitration ends. Any court proceeding allowed by this section must be brought only in the state or federal courts in Fresno County, California, and you consent to their jurisdiction.

Any claim against the LIZ Parties must be brought within one year after it arises, or it is permanently barred, to the extent the law allows.

16. General

This Agreement is the entire agreement between you and LIZ about the Services. If any provision is held invalid, it will be enforced to the maximum extent permitted, and the rest stays in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. This Agreement will not be interpreted against LIZ because LIZ drafted it. You may not transfer your rights under this Agreement; LIZ may transfer its rights to a successor. Sections 3 and 7 through 16 survive after you stop using the Services.

Questions: chris@lizbreakfree.org · LIZ BREAK FREE, 2214 N Chance Ave, Fresno, CA 93703