Public liability contracts

Murray Woodman — Tue, 29 Apr 2003 08:07:00 +0000

I heard a story on 2BL which was about North Shore (conservative area of Sydney) parents being concerned for their public liability when their children hosted underage parties. They were worried that some children would engage in illegal activities such as underage drinking and drug consumption. They were also very concerned about gate crashers. Apparently some of them were making parents, and possibly minors, sign contracts before being allowed entry to the party. I generalised this and wondered why there weren’t easily maintainable “contract” web sites which could do this kind of stuff.

Problem

People are concerned about public liability and want to protect themselves contracturally. More generally, people have the need to enter into agreements which can be recorded and referred to.

Solution

A website could be set up where a user could create a contract and then send it to subsequent parties to sign. The acceptance could then be recorded and further info made available.

Inspiration

North Shore parents being the leaders in paranoia.

Implementation

A website as per usual. Should be pretty quick to put together.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The biggest weakness would relate to the legality of the agreements entered into. Obviously the strength of the agreement depends on the wording and its status as a contract. These could be difficult to overcome. If so – I believe that the system would still work to a certain degree.
So far I haven’t heard of any “contracts for the masses” on the web so may be worth looking into further.

Business Model

I believe that people would pay $10-$20 for one off events. It could be marketed to schools and excursions, events organisers etc.

Murray Woodman » drunk kids

Public liability contracts