Research help

[telophase]

Got a question I need answered and as all I have at the moment is an iPhone and I'm getting on the road shortly, I can't search very well. The question is: at a convention, if one of the vendors does something illegal, like hold a raffle in TX without being a 501(c)3 organization or sell porn to minors, can the convention itself get in trouble or is it only the vendor who will get fined/arrested/etc.?

Not looking for speculation or what you think might happen, as this is to settle a disagreement over what two of us think might happen. (i.e., I think the reason we caution dealers against illegal doings is that we, as a convention, could also get in trouble, but the person I'm arguing with thinks it's only the vendor that's breaking the law that will get in trouble.)

Sent from my iPhone

Comments

[snarp]

My mother (lawyer who used to go to a lot of cons, though I don't think she was ever involved in organizing one) says that in general a convention/fair/whatever's contract with a dealer should always include language saying the dealer can't do anything illegal, and that such an agreement would absolve the con of responsibility for any such illegal activities.

This does not mean that no one would ever be able to, you know, find a lawyer willing to sue the con under these circumstances - there are a lot of lawyers in the world! Just that, in her opinion, the suit probably wouldn't go anywhere.

[telophase]

Thanks! This helps a lot. :)

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

I don't know about a convention, but the site holder could be held responsible, yeah. I'm sure there's legal stuff like whether you knew and did nothing, etc, which would increase your liability. I'm just speaking from the experience of the uni as renting out our halls/classrooms to various groups, and they get it from uni counsel. I don't have time to do real research this AM, and IANAL, but I'd say oh yeah, can o legal worms do not want.

[tprjones.livejournal.com]

Anyone with the con or location would be highly unlikely to be involved in any criminal proceedings because of something like that, unless something came out in the investigation indicating that you/they were directly complicit to some degree or another. As long as you/they didn't know what was going on - or if you/they did you/they took steps to stop it - then there's little to worry about on criminal grounds.

Danger of civil suits, however, is a whole other matter. That's why it's good to have protective language in any contract the con has with the dealers, just as there's probably already protective language in the contract between the venue and the con. That language doesn't absolve the con/venue of all responsibility, but it does tend to limit liability to the degree that a plaintiff can demonstrate negligence and/or inaction in the face of knowledge of what was going on.

But it sounds like a civil suit is not your main concern here, so as long as you/they were either ignorant of what was going on and/or took steps to stop it once discovered, then all should be well ... ish.

[tprjones.livejournal.com]

I did forget to say: IANAL. So if someone is leveling charges at you, don't take my word for it.