Terms of Use

1. Use of Website and Services.

You represent, and warrant that you possess the legal right and ability to enter into this Agreement, including, without limitation, that, in the case of the Services, your employer has provided you with a user name and password to access the Services. You agree to (a) use the Website and the Services only in accordance with this Agreement and applicable law, (b) adhere to MECC's acceptable use policy, as described in Section 13 below, (c) provide true, accurate, current and complete information upon registration and maintain and promptly update such information, and (d) protect your account by, among other things, keeping your password, if any, and other information relating to your account confidential.

2. Access to Website and Services.

Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, Midwest Employers Casualty Company ("MECC") grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable license to, during the term of this Agreement, access the Website, the content available at the Website, and the Services solely for viewing, browsing, retrieving, uploading, requesting, and posting information, and ordering products or services on or through the Website, in each case only to the extent permissible by the authorization associated with your user account.

3. Unauthorized Access.

You hereby accept responsibility for, and shall be liable for, all access to the Website and/or Services in connection with your user name and password. You agree to (a) prevent unauthorized users from using the Website using your user name and password, (b) not access portions of the Website, the Services or MECC's computer networks to which your user account does not expressly provide permission to do so, and (c) immediately notify MECC if you suspect any breach of security, such as loss, theft, or unauthorized disclosure or use of your user name or password.

4. Intellectual Property.

4.1 All content, information, photos, graphics, programs, services, processes, designs, software, technologies, trademarks, trade names, inventions and all other materials comprising the Website and the Services (collectively, the "Works") are owned by (or licensed to) MECC and/or its content and/or service providers. Except for your use in connection with the internal business purposes of your employer, the Works may not be accessed, modified, reverse-engineered, displayed, performed, sold, leased, sublicensed, reproduced, published, broadcast, or distributed (including, without limitation, by framing or similar means) in any medium, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, for any commercial or non-commercial purpose, or used for advertising or any other purpose without the prior written consent of MECC and/or the applicable owner or licensor. Nothing in this Agreement shall be deemed to transfer any ownership or other proprietary or intellectual property rights in the Works, the Website or the Services to you. Any rights not expressly granted to you in this Agreement by MECC are hereby reserved by MECC.

4.2 The Website and Services contain Copyrighted material, trademarks, trade secrets, intellectual property rights and other proprietary information of MECC and its third party providers. The entire contents of the Website and Services are copyrighted under the United States copyright laws and may also be protected under other applicable laws or treaties.

4.3 By uploading or otherwise submitting a file or other information ("Your Content") to or through the Website and/or Services, you automatically grant, or warrant that the copyright owner of Your Content has expressly granted, to MECCa perpetual, royalty-free, irrevocable, worldwide, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, publicly display and/or perform, modify, store, publish, adapt, translate, create derivative works from, sublicense and/or distribute Your Content (in whole or part) and/or to incorporate it in other works in any medium now known or hereafter developed for the full term of any copyright that may exist in Your Content. You also represent and warrants that you possess all necessary fights, title and interests to rightfully grant MECC the foregoing license, free and clear of any encumbrances, third party interests and restrictions. Unless otherwise explicitly stated, any materials provided, by you in connection with the Website or the Services shall be deemed to be provided on a non-proprietary and non-confidential basis.

4.4 Sections 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 above are for the benefit of MECC, its affiliates, its licensors, and its third party content and service providers and each shall have the right to assert and enforce such provisions directly or on its own behalf. You also agree that you shall not contest or aid in contesting the ownership or validity of the copyrights, trademarks, service marks and trade secrets (as applicable) of MECC or its third party providers in connection with the Website and/or Services.

5. No Warranties; Limitation of Liability.

5.1 Your use of the Website and Services is at your sole risk. You assume full responsibility and risk of loss resulting from the downloading and/or use of materials obtained through the Website and Services. Neither MECC nor any of its suppliers endorse or stand behind the accuracy, truthfulness or reliability of any information (including statements of opinion or advice) provided on or by means of the Website and/or Services. You should consult an appropriate professional for specific advice tailored to your situation. The Website may contain hyperlinks to websites operated by parties other than MECC. MECC does not control such websites and is not responsible for their contents. MECC's inclusion of a hyperlink does not imply any endorsement of the material so linked or any association with the provider.

5.2 THE WEBSITE, THE SERVICES, AND THE WORKS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS", AND NEITHER MECC NOR ANY OF ITS SUPPLIERS, CONTENT PROVIDERS, AFFILIATES, LICENSORS, EMPLOYEES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, AGENTS, OR THE LIKE MAKES ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES REGARDING THE USABILITY, CONDITION OR OPERATION THEREOF. No oral advice or written information given to you by MECC or any of its suppliers, content providers, licensors, employees, agents, or the like shall create any warranty. Neither MECC nor any of its suppliers, content providers, licensors, employees, agents, or the like warrants that access to, or use of, the Website and the Services will be uninterrupted, virus free, or error-free, or that the Website and the Services (including, without limitation, any content on the Website or the Services will meet any particular criteria of performance or quality. MECC, ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND ALL OF ITS SUPPLIERS, CONTENT PROVIDERS, AFFILIATES, LICENSORS, EMPLOYEES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, AGENTS AND THE LIKE, HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES AND/OR REPRESENTATIONS, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ORAL OR WRITI'EN, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY AND ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, REASONABLE CARE, COMPATIBILITY, SECURITY, RELIABILITY, ACCURACY, AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE (WHETHER OR NOT MECC KNOWS, HAS REASON TO KNOW, HAS BEEN ADVISED, OR IS OTHERWISE IN FACT AWARE OF ANY SUCH PURPOSE). FURTHERMORE, MECC, ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND ALL OF ITS SUPPLIERS, CONTENT PROVIDERS, AFFILIATES, LICENSORS, EMPLOYEES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, AGENTS AND THE LIKE, HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES OF TITLE AND/OR NON-INFRINGEMENT IN RESPECT OF THE WEBSITE, THE SERVICES AND THE WORKS.

5.3 MECC and all of its suppliers, content providers, affiliates, licensors, employees, officers, directors, agents and the like, in each instance will not be liable for (a) any indirect, incidental, consequential and/or special damages arising out of your use of, or inability to use, the Website or the Services, and you hereby waive any claims with respect thereto, whether based on contractual, tort or other grounds, even if MECC has been advised of the possibility of such damages, and/or (b) damages or injury caused by any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer virus, communication line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, alteration of, or use of any file, in each instance whether for breach of contract, tortuous behavior, negligence, or under any other cause of action. For further clarity, in all events, MECC and all of its suppliers, content providers, affiliates, licensors, employees, agents and the like shall not be liable for the defamatory, offensive, or illegal conduct of other users of the Internet, the Website or the Services. IN ANY EVENT, MECC'S CUMULATIVE LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY AND ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE USE OF THE WEBSITE, THE SERVICES OR THE WORKS SHALL NOT EXCEED A TOTAL OF $500.00.

5.4 Some jurisdictions do not allow implied warranties to be excluded or modified or liability to be limited, so not all of the above limitations may apply to you.

5.5 The provisions of this Section 5 and Section 6 represent a reasonable allocation 0f the risks under this Agreement. MECC's willingness to allow you to use the Website and the Services reflects this allocation of risk and the limitations of liability specified herein.

6. Indemnification.

You agree to forever indemnify, defend and hold harmless MECC and all of its suppliers, content providers, affiliates, licensors, employees, officers, directors, agents and the like, in each instance from and against any and all claims, suits, liabilities, expenses (including, without limitation, attorneys' fees), and/or damages arising out of claims based upon your use of the Website, the Services and/or the Works, including, without limitation, any claim of libel, defamation, violation of legal rights of others (including rights of privacy or publicity), loss of service by other subscribers, infringement of intellectual property or other rights, and your violation of the terms of this Agreement.

7. Term and Termination.

This Agreement takes effect on the date that you accept this Agreement in the manner specified in this Agreement and continues until terminated in accordance with the terms of this Agreement. With or without prior notice, MECC may terminate this Agreement, your password, your account, or your use of the Website and/or Services, for any reason, including, without limitation, if MECC, in its sole discretion, believes you have violated this Agreement or MECC's acceptable use policy, or if you leave your employer or your employer's agreement authorizing your use of the Services is terminated for any reason. MECC may provide termination notice to you by e-mail addressed to your e-mail account or by US Mail or courier service to the address you provided. All notices to you shall be deemed effective on the first (1st) calendar day following the date of electronic mailing or on the fourth (4th) calendar day following the date of first-class mailing or deposit with a commercial courier service. You may terminate this Agreement at any time and for any reason only by providing notice of termination to MECC by certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed to the address for MECC provided on the Website.

8. Changes to Services; Modification of Agreement.

MECC reserves the right, with or without notice to you, to change, improve or discontinue (or to have its providers do so) any of the Services offered on the Website or the Website itself, or any portion thereof, including, but not limited to, the Works, hours, of operation, menu structures, access procedures, software commands, documentation, vendors and/or other services. THIS AGREEMENT MAY BE MODIFIED FROM TIME TO TIME BY MECC. NOTICE OF SUCH MODIFICATION MAY BE GIVEN BY ANY MEANS SELECTED BY MECC, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, POSTING ON THE WEBSITE, BY MAIL, BY E-MAIL OR BY ANY OTHER MEANS BY WHICH YOU OBTAIN NOTICE THEREOF. YOUR USE OF ANY OF THE SERVICES FOLLOWING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ANY SUCH MODIFICATION SHALL CONSTITUTE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF ANY SUCH MODIFICATION.

9. Entire Agreement and Survival.

This Agreement and the MECC Privacy Policy in effect on the Website contain the full understanding of the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof. Any provisions of this Agreement that may reasonably be construed as surviving, and the rights and obligations of the parties hereunder, shall survive any termination of the Agreement for any reason, including, without limitation, Sections 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 15.

10. Applicable Law

Connecticut law without regard to its conflict of laws provisions and/or any controlling U.S. federal law will govern this Agreement. You and MECC agree to submit to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the courts located in Greenwich, Connecticut.

11. Export Laws.

MECC controls and operates the Website and the Services in the United States of America and makes no representation that they are appropriate or available for use in other locations. If you use the Website or the Services from other locations, you are responsible for compliance with applicable local laws including but not limited to the export and import regulations of the United States and/or other countries. You acknowledge and agree that the Works may be subject to the U.S. Export Administration Laws and Regulations and you agree to comply strictly with all U.S. export laws and assume sole responsibility for obtaining licenses to export or re-export as may be required.

12. Copyright Infringement Claims.

MECC is committed to complying with U.S. copyright law and expects you to do the same. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3) ("DMCA") provides recourse for owners of copyrighted material who believe that their rights under U.S. copyright law have been infringed on the Internet. MECC will process all notices of alleged infringement and will take appropriate action as required by the DMCA and other applicable intellectual property laws.

 If you believe that any material contained on this Website, the Works or the Services infringes your copyright, you should notify MECC of your copyright infringement claim in accordance with the following procedure.

The DMCA requires that notifications of claimed copyright infringement should be sent to MECC's designated agent who is:

Peter W. Shaw
Midwest Employers Casualty Company
14755 North Outer 40 Drive
Chesterfield, MO. 63017
E-mail: pshaw@mwecc.com

To be effective, the notification must be in writing and contain the information required under the DMCA, i.e.: (1) Physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner; (2) Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed; (3) Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled as well as information reasonably sufficient to permit MECC to locate the material; (4) Contact information of the complaining party; (5) A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agents, or the law; and (6) A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

13. Acceptable Use Policy

Your use of the Website and the Services are subject to MECC's acceptable use policy posted on the Website (the "Acceptable Use Policy") and generally accepted principles of Internet usage. Accordingly, you agree to abide by the Acceptable Use Policy and such principles. The Acceptable Use Policy is hereby incorporated into this Agreement. MECC may change the Acceptable Use Policy from time to time by providing notice thereof to you by posting the changes on the Website. Any new policy or change to the Acceptable Use Policy shall become effective and binding on you. For further clarity, any violation of the Acceptable Use Policy or such principles by any third party you allow to use the Website or the Services shall be deemed to be a violation by you. If no such Acceptable Use Policy is in effect you agree to use the Website and the Services only in a manner deemed acceptable by MECC, in its sole discretion and, in such case, the following non-exhaustive list shall be deemed to be the Acceptable Use Policy and is intended to illustrate the types of usage that will be deemed to be violations of MECC's acceptable use policy: (a) using the Website or the Services in any manner that, intentionally or unintentionally, violates any applicable local, state, national or international law, rule or regulation, (b) using the Website or the Services in any manner that is unlawful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortuous, defamatory, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable, (c) using the Website or the Services to harm, or attempt to harm, others, including minors, in any way, (d) using the Website or the Services to make fraudulent offers to distribute, sell or buy products, items, or services or to advance any type of financial fraud or scam, (e) making any effort to add, remove or modify header information in an effort to deceive or mislead or attempting to impersonate any person, (f) using the Website or the Services to transmit any unsolicited commercial email or unsolicited bulk email or "spare," (g) using the Website or the Services to access, or to attempt to access, the accounts of others, or to penetrate or attempt to penetrate, security measures of MECC's or another entity's systems or networks, whether or not the access or penetration results in disruption of service or the corruption or loss of data, (h) using the Website or the Services in any manner that infringes any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, intellectual property or other proprietary rights of MECC or any third party, (i) reselling or in any way redistributing the Services without MECC's authorization, (j) using the Website or the Services for any activity which adversely affects the ability of other people or systems to use the Website, the Services or the Internet, including, without limitation, excessive consumption of network or system resources, whether intentional or unintentional, or allowing, through action or inaction, a third party the capability to use their system in an illegal or inappropriate manner, (k) transmitting any material that you do not have a right to make available (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under non disclosure agreements), and (1) transmitting any software virus or any other computer code, file or program designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software, hardware, system or telecommunications equipment. For further clarity, you understand and agree that any attempt to break security, or to access an account that does not belong to you, will be considered a material breach of this Agreement and may result in suspension of your access to the Services or termination of this Agreement, and possibly referral to law enforcement authorities. You expressly authorize MECC to comply with any and all lawful notices, subpoenas, court orders or warrants without prior notice to you.

14. Assignment.

MECC may assign in whole or in part MECC's rights and/or obligations under this Agreement without prior notice to you and upon such assignment MECC shall be released from all liability hereunder. You may assign in whole or in part your rights and/or obligations under this Agreement only with MECC's prior written consent, which may be withheld for any reason MECC deems appropriate. Subject to this restriction, the Agreement shall inure to the benefit of and be binding upon the heirs, successors, subcontractors, and assigns of the respective parties.

15. Miscellaneous.

You agree that MECC's affiliates, licensors and its third party content and service providers shall be intended third party beneficiaries with vested rights in this Agreement. The failure of MECC or any of its affiliates, licensors or its third party content and service providers to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this Agreement will not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. Failure to enforce any provision of this Agreement shall not constitute a waiver or create estoppels from enforcing such provision. Any waiver of a provision of this Agreement shall not be binding unless such waiver is in writing and signed by the waiving party. If any provision of this Agreement is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties' intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect. You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim by you arising out of or related to use of the Website or the Services or this Agreement must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred. All remedies under this Agreement are in addition to equitable remedies and remedies provided by law and are cumulative. The section titles and paragraph headings in this Agreement are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect.

PRINTING A COPY OF THIS AGREEMENT FOR YOUR RECORDS.

MECC recommends that you print a copy of this Agreement for your records. In general you may print a copy by selecting the “Print” option under the “File” menu in your Internet browser program and follow the indicated procedures for printing.