Operator: Reidel Law Firm, PC (“we,” “us,” “our”) Service: The Diligence Letter™ — the private member discussion, twice-monthly Letter, breaking alerts, members-only archive, website, and related materials (collectively, the “Service”).
TLDR:
- Membership is free, vetted, and brokers-only — no franchisors, vendors, or lead-buyers.
- What’s shared in the room stays in the room. Cite your sources. No solicitation.
- It’s attorney commentary and peer discussion for education — not legal or investment advice.
- No attorney-client relationship is created by membership or use of the Service.
1) Acceptance of Terms
By applying for membership, accessing, or using the Service, you agree to these Terms of Use (“Terms”). If you do not agree, do not use the Service. We may update these Terms from time to time; continued use constitutes acceptance of changes. Material changes will be noted on this page with an updated Effective Date.
2) Who the Service Is For (and What It Is Not)
The Service provides attorney commentary and opinion based on cited public records (e.g., FDDs, state filings, docket materials) plus a moderated peer discussion among franchise brokers. It is educational information, not individualized legal advice, investment advice, or a solicitation. No attorney-client relationship is formed by your membership or use of the Service. Brokers remain responsible for their own regulatory compliance (e.g., California broker disclosures/registration).
3) Membership, Vetting & Access
- Eligibility: Membership is limited to practicing franchise brokers and consultants. Franchisors, vendors, lead-buyers, and anyone intending to sell to the membership are not eligible.
- Vetting: Every application is reviewed personally. We may verify your identity, role, and practice before granting access, and we may decline or revoke membership at our discretion.
- Identity: You must provide accurate registration information. Within the member discussion, you may participate under your own name or a verified alias — but your real identity is always known to the moderator.
- Per-user access: Membership is individual. Do not share your access, forward member-only materials, or admit others to the discussion under your identity.
- We may suspend or terminate membership for violations of these Terms or the Community Guidelines (Section 4), or to protect the Service and its members.
4) Community Guidelines
The value of the Service depends on candor and trust. Members agree to:
- Confidentiality: What’s shared in the room stays in the room. Do not repost, forward, screenshot, or attribute any member’s discussion contributions outside the membership. Broker-safe materials we expressly designate (e.g., Deal Snapshots) may be shared with candidates.
- Cite sources: Assertions of fact about a franchisor or system should be grounded in documents or first-hand experience you can describe. Rumor presented as fact will be removed.
- No solicitation: No pitching products or services, recruiting members into other groups, or mining the discussion for leads.
- Professional conduct: No defamatory, unlawful, or deceptive posts. Disagree with ideas, not people.
- Enforcement: Violations carry a one-strike policy — we may remove content and revoke membership immediately (membership is free; no refunds apply).
Moderation decisions are made by the moderator and are final.
5) Membership Is Free
Membership in the Service is currently offered at no charge to qualified brokers. There is no trial period, billing, or paid tier. We may introduce paid services in the future; if we do, these Terms will be updated and continued use will constitute acceptance.
6) Content Rights & License to You
We own all rights in the Service and content, including text, graphics, data models, ratings, and brand names (collectively, “Content”) — excluding members’ own discussion contributions, which remain theirs as addressed in Section 7. Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, nonexclusive, nontransferable license to access and use Content for your internal business use as a broker/consultant.
You may not republish, resell, redistribute, or train external AI models on our Content (see Sections 7, 11).
7) Member Contributions
You retain ownership of what you post in the member discussion. By posting, you grant us a nonexclusive license to display, archive, and moderate your contributions within the members-only areas of the Service. You must have the right to share what you post, and you are solely responsible for your contributions — including their accuracy and legality. Do not post anything you are obligated to keep confidential (e.g., under an NDA) or that identifies a client or candidate without consent.
8) Right-to-Reply & Corrections
We maintain a right-to-reply process. Franchisors or readers may submit factual corrections with supporting citations to schuyler@diligenceletter.com. We will review in good faith and update Content as appropriate with an editor’s note and date stamp.
9) Disclaimers
THE SERVICE AND CONTENT ARE PROVIDED “AS IS.” TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED (INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT). WE DO NOT GUARANTEE OUTCOMES, COMPLETENESS, OR ERROR-FREE CONTENT. Member contributions reflect the views of their authors, not of Reidel Law Firm, PC. Always verify filings current as of your transaction date.
10) No Legal Advice; No Attorney-Client Relationship
Everything in the Service — the Letter, alerts, Conversation Plays, Deal Snapshots, and the member discussion, including the moderator’s contributions — is general information for professional brokers, not legal advice. Membership does not create an attorney-client relationship with Reidel Law Firm, PC or any of its attorneys. If you become a client under a separate engagement, that relationship is governed exclusively by the signed engagement agreement. We may decline or terminate memberships that present a conflict of interest.
11) Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)
You agree not to:
- Scrape, spider, crawl, harvest, or bulk-download Content or the members-only archive.
- Share access or forward member-only materials to non-members.
- Republish, resell, or redistribute Content or member contributions to third parties, public websites, or shared databases.
- Use Content or member contributions to train, fine-tune, or improve public AI/ML models (internal, non-public analytics OK).
- Misrepresent Content as your own without attribution or remove proprietary notices.
- Interfere with security or access controls, or attempt to reverse engineer the Service.
- Use the Service for unlawful, defamatory, infringing, or deceptive purposes.
We may suspend/terminate memberships for AUP violations and pursue available remedies.
12) Limitation of Liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, LOST PROFITS, LOST DATA, OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY. BECAUSE MEMBERSHIP IS PROVIDED WITHOUT CHARGE, OUR AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100).
13) Indemnification
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Reidel Law Firm, PC and its members, attorneys, and staff from claims, damages, liabilities, and expenses arising from (a) your misuse of the Service, (b) your contributions to the member discussion, (c) your violation of these Terms/AUP, or (d) your violation of law or third-party rights.
14) Privacy & Email Communications
We process personal data per our Privacy Policy. By joining, you consent to receive the Letter, alerts, member discussion messages per your chosen delivery setting, and administrative emails. You can change your delivery mode or unsubscribe at any time; administrative emails may still be sent (e.g., policy or security notices).
15) Third-Party Links & Data
The Service may reference or link to government portals, court dockets, or third-party tools. We are not responsible for third-party content, availability, or practices.
16) DMCA/Copyright
If you believe material on the Service infringes your copyright, send a DMCA notice to:
DMCA Agent: Schuyler Reidel, Reidel Law Firm, PC, Galveston, Texas, schuyler@diligenceletter.com. Include the information required by 17 U.S.C. §512(c)(3).
17) Suspension/Termination
We may suspend or terminate membership (with or without notice) for violations, ineligibility, or risk to the Service or its members. Upon termination, your license ends and you must cease use and delete any non-exported Content not expressly permitted to retain. You may resign your membership at any time by contacting us.
18) Governing Law; Dispute Resolution
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to conflicts principles.
Arbitration: Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms shall be resolved by binding arbitration in Harris County, Texas, administered by AAA under its Commercial Rules. Judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction. Class actions are waived. Either party may seek injunctive relief in court for misuse of IP or violation of the AUP or Community Guidelines.
19) Force Majeure
We are not liable for delays or failures due to events beyond our reasonable control (e.g., internet outages, government actions, acts of God).
20) Miscellaneous
If any provision is unenforceable, the remainder remains in effect. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign to an affiliate or in connection with a merger or sale. These Terms constitute the entire agreement regarding the Service.
Contact: Reidel Law Firm, PC Galveston, Texas • schuyler@diligenceletter.com