Last Updated March 2024
These Terms and Conditions are an agreement between 9th Stratum Publishing LLC, a New Jersey limited liability company (the “Company,” “We,” “Us,” “Our”) and You the user (“You,” “Your”). These Terms and Conditions, subject to amendment thereof from time to time, along with the Privacy Policy and End User License Agreement, if applicable, represent the entire understanding and agreement between You and the Company with respect to the website www.stratum-nine.com(the “Site’) and the mobile application Stratum 9 (the “Mobile Application”) which together may be collectively referred to herein as the “Application”) with respect to the subject matter of the same (the “Agreement”), and supersedes all other negotiations, understandings and representations (if any) made by and between You and the Company. These Terms and Conditions shall not be construed more strongly against the Company despite its responsibility for its preparation. Any updates to these Terms and Conditions will be posted within the Application. BY PARTICIPATING IN OUR SERVICES, YOU AGREE, ACCEPT AND UNDERSTAND THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS SET FORTH BELOW. WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE BASED ON LOCAL, STATE OR FEDERAL LAWS RELATING TO YOUR JURISDICTION. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, CONTACT OUR CUSTOMER SERVICE TEAM AT information@stratum-nine.com.These Terms and Conditions describe when, and the conditions under which, You are allowed to access or use the Application. Please read these carefully before visiting the Application. If You do not agree to these Terms and Conditions, You may not visit, use, or access the Application, and You may not click to accept the Terms and Conditions when prompted on the Application.
ABOUT THE COMPANY AND THE APPLICATION
The Application is a technology platform that connects consumers who need contracting services with service providers, and which oversees payment for such services (the “Service(s)”). The Application is NOT a service provider or employment agency, does not endorse any service provider in any way and is not responsible for any acts, omissions or negligence of any service provider in any way.
USER RESPONSIBILITIES
When You create an account on Our Website, which You will need in order to access Our Services, You represent that You are eighteen (18) years of age or older and that the information You provide to Us is accurate, complete and current at all times.
You, and You alone, are responsible for Your account and anything that happens while You are signed in to or using Your account. Your security is Your responsibility. If You sign up for the Application, You will create a personalized account which includes Your email and a password to access the Application and to receive emails from the Application. You are responsible for maintaining the security of Your account, and You are fully responsible for all activities that occur under the account and any other actions taken in connection with the account. You agree to notify the Company immediately of any unauthorized use of Your account, or any other breaches of security regarding Your account. The Company will not be responsible for any liabilities, losses, or damages arising out of the unauthorized use of Your computer, mobile device, or other computing device and/or account. You represent and warrant that: (i) You have the authority to, and are of legal age in a permitted jurisdiction to bind Yourself to this Agreement; (ii) Your use of the Services will be solely for purposes that are permitted by this Agreement; (iii) Your use of the Services will not infringe upon or misappropriate the intellectual property rights of any third party; and (iv) Your use of the Services will comply with all local, state and federal laws, rules, and regulations, and with all other Application policies and procedures. You are permitted to use the Services provided You comply with the rules and restrictions set forth in the Agreements and pursuant to the applicable law in any applicable jurisdiction.
PROHIBITED SITE USES
You may not use, nor encourage, promote, facilitate, instruct, or induce others to use the Services for any activities that violate any law, statute, ordinance or regulation; or for any other illegal or fraudulent purpose or any purpose that is harmful to others; nor to transmit, store, display, distribute or otherwise make available content that is illegal, fraudulent or harmful to others. The following are some examples of uses that are prohibited on the Application by users: a. Seeking, offering, promoting, or endorsing services, content, or activities that: (i) are defamatory, illegal, profane, vulgar, threatening, unlawfully discriminatory, illegal, pornographic, obscene, or sexually explicit in nature; (ii) would violate the intellectual property rights, such as and including copyrights, of another person, entity, service, product, or website; (iii) would violate (a) the Terms and Conditions, (b) other policies and Agreements, or (c) the terms of service of another website or any similar contractual obligations; (iv) regard the creation, publication, or distribution of “fake news,” content or similar content, which is, in the Company’s sole discretion, determined to be intended to mislead recipients for personal, financial, political or other gain or advantage; (v) regard or promote in any way any escort services, prostitution, or sexual acts; or (vi) are harassing toward another person based on the person's inclusion in a protected class as defined by applicable law; (vii) is pornographic, discriminatory, or otherwise victimizes or intimidates an individual or group on the basis of religion, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, age, or disability; (viii) defames, harasses, abuses, threatens, or incites violence towards any individual or group; b. fraudulent or misleading uses or content, including: (i) fraudulently billing or attempting to fraudulently bill any user; (ii) impersonating any person or entity; (iii) falsely attributing statements to any Company representative; (iv) falsely stating or implying a relationship with the Company or with another company with whom You do not have a relationship; (v) allowing another person to use Your account; (vi) Making or demanding bribes or other forms of payments without the intention of providing services in exchange for the payment; (vii) duplicating or sharing accounts; (viii) selling, trading, or giving an account to another person; (ix) directly or indirectly advertising or promoting another website, product, or service or soliciting other Providers for other websites, products, or services, including advertising on the Application to recruit Providers and/or users to another website or company; c. Interfering or attempting to interfere with the proper operation of the Services, including by: (i) bypassing any measures that the Company may use to prevent or restrict access to the Application, including, without limitation, features that prevent or restrict use or copying of any content or enforce limitations on use of the Application or the content therein; (ii) attempting to interfere with or compromise the system integrity or security or decipher any transmissions to or from the servers running the Application; (iii) using any robot, spider, scraper, or other automated means to access the Application for any purpose without Our express written permission; (iv) attempting to or interfering with or compromising the system integrity or security or deciphering any transmissions to or from the servers running the Application; (v) collecting or harvesting any personally identifiable information, including account names, from the Application; (vi) attempting to or imposing an unreasonable or disproportionately large load (as determined in the Company’s sole discretion) on the Application’s infrastructure; Introducing any invalid data, virus, worm, or other harmful or malicious software code, agent, hidden procedure, routine, or mechanism through or to the Application that is designed to or known to cause to cease functioning, disrupt, disable, harm, or otherwise impair in any manner, including aesthetic disruptions or distortions, the operation of (or to allow You or any other person to access or damage or corrupt data, storage media, programs, equipment, or communications or otherwise interfere with operations of or on) the Application or any software, firmware, hardware, computer system, or network of the Application or any third party; (vii) accessing or attempting to access the Services by any means or technology other than the interface provided; or (viii) framing or linking to the Services except as permitted in writing; d. Conduct or actions that could jeopardize the integrity of or circumvent the Services or proprietary information, including: (i) attempting to, or actually reverse engineering, modifying, adapting, translating, preparing derivative works from, decompiling, interfering with the operation of, or otherwise attempting to derive source code from any part of the Application unless expressly permitted by applicable law or the Company; or (ii) accessing or using the Services to build a similar service, product or application or to identify or solicit Application users; (iii) contains or installs any viruses, worms, malware, Trojan horses, or other content that is designed or intended to disrupt, damage, or limit the functioning of any software, hardware, or telecommunications equipment or to damage or obtain unauthorized access to any data or other information of any third party.
USE OF APPLICATION
Your use of the Services is non-transferable. You agree that only You may use the Application. Participation is subject to the Agreements, as well as policies and procedures that the Company may adopt or modify from time to time. Any failure to abide by the Agreements or any policies or procedures implemented by the Company, any conduct detrimental to the Application, or any misrepresentation or fraudulent activities in connection with the Services, may result in termination of Your use of the Service, as well as any other rights or remedies available to the Company.
MODIFICATION OR TERMINATION OF THE SERVICE.
The Company reserves the right to modify these Terms and Conditions or any other aspect of the Services, in whole or in part, at any time, with or without notice to You (except as otherwise specified herein). All changes to these Terms and Conditions are effective immediately when We post them, and apply to all access to and use of the Application thereafter. Your continued use of the Application following the posting of revised Terms and Conditions means that You accept and agree to the changes. You are expected to check this page from time to time so You are aware of any changes, as they are binding on You.
THIRD PARTY PROCESSOR
The Application may use a third-party payment processor to process any payments. When You process payments via a third-party payment processor, You shall separately read and agree to their User Agreement and comply with the agreement and the business rules of such partner. The Company shall assume no responsibility for any loss or damage. We reserve the right to delay, cancel, reverse (to the extent possible) or refuse to process, any submitted transaction if: (i) required by law or regulations or in response to a subpoena, court order, or other government order or to enforce transaction limits; (ii) We suspect the transaction involves (or has a high risk of involvement in) money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud, or any other type of financial crime or illegal activity; (iii) We reasonably suspect that the transaction is erroneous; (iv) if we suspect the transaction relates to prohibited use as set forth in this Agreement; or (v) We suspect that You have breached any terms of this Agreement. In such instances, We are under no obligation to allow You to reinstate a transaction.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
If You believe that material located on or linked to the Application violates Your copyright, please notify Us in accordance with Our Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) Policy. The Company respects the intellectual property rights of others and requests that Our users do the same. Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 512(i) of the United States Copyright Act, We will terminate a user’s access to and use of the Application if, under appropriate circumstances, in the Company’s sole discretion, the user is determined to be a repeat infringer of the copyrights or other intellectual property rights of the Company or others. We may terminate access for users who are found repeatedly to provide or post protected third-party content without necessary rights and permissions. If You are a copyright owner or an agent of a copyright owner and believe, in good faith, that any materials provided on the Application infringe upon Your copyrights, You may submit a notification pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (see 17 U.S.C 512) by sending a properly formatted “take-down notice” in writing to the Company designated copyright agent at legal@stratum-nine.com. If the Company takes action in response to an infringement notice, it will make a good faith attempt to contact the party that made such content available by means of the most recent email address, if any, provided by that party. Any DMCA infringement notice may be forwarded to the party that made the content available or to third parties. If You believe that Your user generated content that has been removed from the Application is not infringing, or that You have the authorization from the copyright owner, the copyright owner's agent, or pursuant to the law to post and use the content You submitted to the Company, You may send a properly formatted counter-notice to the Company copyright agent using the contact information set forth above. If a counter-notice is received by the Company copyright agent, the Company may send a copy of the counter-notice to the original complaining party informing such person that it may reinstate the removed content in ten (10) business days. Unless the copyright owner files an action seeking a court order against the content provider, member or user, the removed content will be reinstated on the Application in ten (10) to fourteen (14) business days after receipt of the counter-notice. The Company retains all ownership of Our intellectual property, including copyrights, patents, and trademarks. The Application and its entire contents, features, and functionality (including but not limited to all information, software, text, displays, images, video, and audio, and the design, selection, and arrangement thereof) are owned by the Company, its licensors, or other providers of such material and are protected by United States and international copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, and other intellectual property or proprietary rights laws. This Agreement does not transfer from the Company to You, any company or third-party intellectual property, and all right, title, and interest in and to such property will remain (as between the parties) solely with the Company. We reserve all rights that are not expressly granted to You under the Agreements. Specifically, the Application and all other trademarks that appear, are displayed, or are used on the Application or as part of the Services are registered or common law trademarks or service marks of the Company. These trademarks may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, used, modified, or distributed in any way without prior written permission from the Company, except as an integral part of any authorized copy of the content.
LINKS FROM THE WEBSITE
If the Application contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for Your convenience only. This includes links contained in advertisements, including banner advertisements and sponsored links. We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources, and accept no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from Your use of them. If You decide to access any of the third-party websites linked to Application, You do so entirely at Your own risk and subject to the terms and conditions of use for such websites.
GEOGRAPHIC RESTRICTIONS
The Company is based in the State of New Jersey in the United States. We provide this Application for use only by persons located in the United States. We make no claims that the Application or any of its content is accessible or appropriate outside of the United States. Access to the Application may not be legal by certain persons or in certain countries. If You access the Application from outside the United States, You do so on Your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws.
LIMITATION ON LIABILITY AND DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES
You agree that the Application is solely a technology platform, and its owner, agents, representatives, officers, members, directors and employees will have no liability whatsoever for any injuries, losses, claims, damages or any special, exemplary, punitive, indirect, incidental or consequential damages of any kind, whether based in contract, tort, strict liability or otherwise, resulting from any use of the Services, any failure or delay by the Application in connection with the Services, or the performance or non-performance of the Services. The Company shall have the right to choose its service partners in its sole and absolute discretion. In the event of a disruption in service from a partner, the Company shall have the right in its sole and absolute discretion to substitute that partner with another partner. Notwithstanding this disclaimer, if the Company is found liable for any loss or damage which arises out of, or is in any way connected with, any of the occurrences described in this paragraph, then its liability will in no event exceed, in total, the sum of one hundred dollars ($100.00). You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Company from and against any and all claims and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, arising out of Your use of the Application, including but not limited to Your violation of the Agreements. If You have a dispute with one or more users, You release the Company from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes. If You are a California resident, You waive California Civil Code §1542, which says: “A general release does not extend to claims which the creditor does not know or suspect to exist in his favor at the time of executing the release, which if known by him must have materially affected his settlement with the debtor.”
NO WARRANTY
You understand that We cannot and do not guarantee or warrant that files available for downloading from the internet or the Application will be free of viruses or other destructive code. You are responsible for implementing sufficient procedures and checkpoints to satisfy Your particular requirements for anti-virus protection and accuracy of data input and output, and for maintaining a means external to our site for any reconstruction of any lost data. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PROVIDED BY LAW, WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY A DISTRIBUTED DENIAL-OF-SERVICE ATTACK, VIRUSES, OR OTHER TECHNOLOGICALLY HARMFUL MATERIAL THAT MAY INFECT YOUR COMPUTER EQUIPMENT, COMPUTER PROGRAMS, DATA, OR OTHER PROPRIETARY MATERIAL DUE TO YOUR USE OF THE APPLICATION OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE APPLICATION OR TO YOUR DOWNLOADING OF ANY MATERIAL POSTED ON IT, OR ON ANY WEBSITE LINKED TO IT.
YOUR USE OF THE APPLICATION, ITS CONTENT, AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS, WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. NEITHER THE COMPANY NOR ANY PERSON ASSOCIATED WITH THE COMPANY MAKES ANY WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION WITH RESPECT TO THE COMPLETENESS, SECURITY, RELIABILITY, QUALITY, ACCURACY, OR AVAILABILITY OF THE SERVICES OR APPLICATION. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, NEITHER THE COMPANY NOR ANYONE ASSOCIATED WITH THE COMPANY REPRESENTS OR WARRANTS THAT THE APPLICATION, ITS CONTENT, OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE APPLICATION WILL BE ACCURATE, RELIABLE, ERROR-FREE, OR UNINTERRUPTED, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, THAT OUR SITE OR THE SERVER THAT MAKES IT AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS, OR THAT THE APPLICATION OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE APPLICATION WILL OTHERWISE MEET YOUR NEEDS OR EXPECTATIONS.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PROVIDED BY LAW, THE COMPANY HEREBY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
THE FOREGOING DOES NOT AFFECT ANY WARRANTIES THAT CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.
RELIANCE ON INFORMATION POSTED
The information presented on or through theApplication is made available solely for general information purposes. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of this information. Any reliance You place on such information is strictly at Your own risk. We disclaimall liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on such materials by You or any other visitor to theApplication, or by anyone who may be informed of any of its contents.
The Application may include content provided by third parties, including materials provided by other users, bloggers, and third-party licensors, syndicators, aggregators, and/or reporting services. All statements and/or opinions expressed in these materials, and all articles and responses to questions and other content, other than the content provided by the Company, are solely the opinions and the responsibility of the person or entity providing those materials. These materials do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Company. We are not responsible, or liable to You or any third party, for the content or accuracy of any materials provided by any third parties.
ENTIRE AGREEMENT; WAIVER; SEVERABILITY
The Agreements contain all of the terms of the Services, and no representations, inducements, promises or agreements concerning the Services not included in this Agreement shall be effective or enforceable. No waiver by the Company of any term or condition set out in these Terms and Conditions shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or condition or a waiver of any other term or condition, and any failure of the Company to assert a right or provision under these Terms and Conditions shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.
If any of the terms of this Agreement shall become invalid or unenforceable, the remaining terms shall remain in full force and effect.
GOVERNING LAW
THIS AGREEMENT SHALL BE GOVERNED AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY WITHOUT GIVING EFFECT TO THE CHOICE OF LAW PROVISIONS THEREOF.
ARBITRATION
In the event of a dispute between You and the Company, You and the Company agree that a prompt and fair resolution, without the time and expense of formal court proceedings, would be in both parties’ mutual interests. ANY CLAIM OR CONTROVERSY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO YOUR USE OF THE APPLICATION OR TO ANY ACT OR OMISSION FOR WHICH YOU MAY CONTENDshall be submitted to final and binding arbitration to be conducted in Somerset County, New Jersey. MANDATORY ARBITRATION REPLACES THE RIGHT OF EITHER PARTY TO GO TO COURT AND DEMAND A JURY TRIAL. The party filing the arbitration must choose one of the following arbitration firms and follow its rules and procedures for initiating and pursuing an arbitration: American Arbitration Association, (http://www.adr.org) or JAMS (http://www.jamsadr.com). In the event that the selected firm cannot administer the arbitration, the party filing the arbitration will select the other firm. Each party will bear its own expenses, except that the arbitrator will be entitled to award a different allocation of costs and fees where the arbitrator determines that a filed claim is frivolous.THE ARBITRATOR SHALL NOT HAVE THE POWER TO AWARD DAMAGES IN CONNECTION WITH ANY DISPUTE IN EXCESS OF ACTUAL COMPENSATORY DAMAGES AND SHALL NOT MULTIPLY ACTUAL DAMAGES OR AWARD CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, AND EACH PARTY IRREVOCABLY WAIVES ANY CLAIM THERETO. Any award rendered by the arbitrator will be final and binding upon each of the parties, and judgment thereon may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. The Federal Arbitration Act will govern the interpretation and enforcement of this section. During the dependency of such arbitration and until final judgment thereon has been entered, these Terms and Conditions will remain in full force and effect unless otherwise terminated as provided hereunder. JUDGMENT UPON ANY AWARD RENDERED BY THE ARBITRATOR MAY BE ENTERED BY ANY STATE OR FEDERAL COURT HAVING JURISDICTION NEAREST TO SOMERSET COUNTY, NEW JERSEY. YOU SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO JOIN OR CONSOLIDATE CLAIMS IN ARBITRATION BY OR AGAINST OTHER CONSUMERS OR ARBITRATE ANY CLAIM AS A REPRESENTATIVE OR MEMBER OF A CLASS OR IN A PRIVATE ATTORNEY GENERAL CAPACITY. If a provision of this clause is held to be invalid, the remainder of the clause will remain in full force and effect, and, to this end, the provisions of this clause are severable. In the event that any State or Federal court rules that this arbitration provision is defective in whole or part or permits an action to be filed in a State or Federal court then the parties agree to have their dispute heard before a court located nearest to Bernards Township.The parties also agree to have any such dispute heard before a Judge and waive any rights to a trial by jury THAT THE COMPANY IS LIABLE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY CLAIM OR CONTROVERSY AS TO ARBITRABILITY.
LIMITATION ON TIME TO FILE CLAIMS
ANY CAUSE OF ACTION OR CLAIM YOU MAY HAVE ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OR THE APPLICATION MUST BE COMMENCED WITHIN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION ACCRUES; OTHERWISE, SUCH CAUSE OF ACTION OR CLAIM IS PERMANENTLY BARRED.
ASSIGNMENT
The Company may assign its rights and obligations pursuant to these Terms and Conditions without prior notice. You may not assign Your rights or obligations pursuant to these Terms and Conditions.
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN US
You understand that the Company may monitor, tape and/or record any conversation that may occur between us. However, the Company is not obligated to do so and it may choose not to do so. You authorize the Company to contact You at its discretion by using prerecorded messaging, predictive dialing devices, and electronic messaging including but not limited to SMS, Text, MMS, Chat, IM, and Email. If You choose not to be contacted by this method, please contact member services.
IF YOU AGREE TO USE THIS SITE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS ALONG WITH THE DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND ARBITRATION PROVISIONS AND WILL BE BOUND HEREBY.