Hold Harmless Agreement

[Abitconfused]

Do any of you use a Hold Harmless Agreement for commercial work? I thought of this but I am no layer....

Agreement for photographic services:

Joe Busyguy (photographer) agrees to photograph participants in an event scheduled for XXX at XXX for the sum of $500, payable upon delivery of a DVD or DVDs having approximately 40 JPEG photographs of the event and 60 JPEG photographs of participants willing to pose. The quality must be acceptable to the client.

The client agrees to hold the photographer harmless and free of any liability, expense, cost, or reimbursement if the photographer or photographers are unable to perform any or all of the duties described above for any reason, including but not limited to, fire, transportation problems, acts of God, accident, illness, injury, theft, stupidity, ignorance, malfeasance, misfeasance, or technical problems. Photographer shall have no further liability with respect to this agreement. This limitation of liability also applies to any loss/damage of photographs or failure to deliver photographs for any reason.

Photo Disk: Upon receipt of a photo DVD, client accepts all responsibility for archiving and protecting the photographs. Photographer does not permanently archive image files. Photographer is not responsible for the life of any digital media provided or for any future changes in digital technology or media interpretation that might result in an inability to read the digital data provided. It is client's responsibility to backup and otherwise secure all digital media and files. The photographer offers no guarantee or warranty of future service or lifespan of digital images.

[plugsnpixels]

Off the top of my head (not currently checking into existing legalities and as a former wedding photographer who no longer has the nerve, ha!), as a client I would be very nervous about part 1 off that agreement, but part 2 (the technical part) seems reasonable.

When part 1 says "for any reason, including but not limited to", I suppose you could be face-down drunk and sleep through the event (or even miss it entirely because of your condition) and still get away with it.

On the other hand, it seems reasonable to have some safeguards in place for the inescapable unforeseen.

[Shadowman]

You can try to introduce such a document, but I don't think it would be totally enforceable. There would be too many variables that could nullify such a document. If you consider the elements of a contract: offer, acceptance, consideration, mutuality of obligation, competency and capacity, and written consent; each of your provisions of the hold harmless agreement could be overruled.

[Cantab]

As a retired lawyer, if I was a client to whom a photographer gave a copy of this agreement, I'd rapidly look for another photographer.
Why would I want to excuse a photographer for his/her theft, misfeasance, etc? As I'm typing this, I'm beginning to wonder if it's an early April fool's joke?

[Mike Buckley]

Why would I want to excuse a photographer for his/her theft, misfeasance, etc?

I assume the intent of the contract, though the intent is not explicitly mentioned, is that if theft of the photographer's equipment occurs and if that theft makes it impossible to fulfill the contract, the photographer is held harmless.

[Mike Buckley]

Ed,

Regarding the last paragraph, purely as a matter of salesmanship, I would never require the client to sign a document stating what you, the photographer, are not going to do. Similarly, I would not ask the client to sign a document stating whatever recommendations you make. A document that simply and succinctly states the scope of the services you are providing should be more than sufficient.

[Abitconfused]

Link: https://images.template.net/wp-conte...y-Contract.pdf
Probably needs to be reviewed by a lawyer.