Terms of Use
For The Villages Website
Last modified: May 1, 2022
Acceptance of the Terms of Use
These terms of use are entered into by and between You and Holding Company of The Villages, Inc. ("Company", "we", or "us"). The following terms and conditions, together with any documents they expressly incorporate by reference (collectively, "Terms of Use"), govern your access to and use of thevillages.com, thevillages.net, and any other website that includes a link to these Terms of Use on its home page or about us page, including any content, functionality and services offered on or through those sites (the "Websites"), whether as a guest or a registered user.
Please read the Terms of Use carefully before you start to use any of the Websites.
By using any one or more of the Websites, you accept and agree to be bound and abide by these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy, found at https://www.thevillages.com/privacy-policy/, incorporated herein by reference.
These Terms of Use contain a Dispute Resolution section that affects your legal rights to bring a court action, and waives your right to proceed as a part of a class. Please review those provisions carefully.
USE OF THE WEBSITES IS OPTIONAL. IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO AGREE TO THESE TERMS OF USE OR THE PRIVACY POLICY, YOU MUST NOT, AND MAY NOT, ACCESS OR USE ANY OF THE WEBSITES.
The Websites are offered and available to users who are 18 years of age or older and reside in the United States or any of its territories or possessions. By using this Website, you represent and warrant that you are of legal age to form a binding contract with the Company and meet all of the foregoing eligibility requirements. If you do not meet all of these requirements, you must not access or use the Website
Changes to the Terms of Use
We may revise and update these Terms of Use from time to time in our sole discretion. All changes are effective immediately when we post them, and apply to all access to, and use of the Websites thereafter. However, any changes to the dispute resolution provisions set forth in Governing Law and Jurisdiction section will not apply to any disputes for which the parties have actual notice on or prior to the date the change is posted.
Your continued use of any of the Websites following the posting of revised Terms of Use 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.
Accessing the Website and Account Security
We reserve the right to withdraw or amend the Websites, and any service or material we provide on the Websites in our sole discretion without notice. We will not be liable if for any reason, all or any part of the Websites is unavailable at any time or for any period. From time to time, we may restrict access to some parts of the Websites, or the entire Websites to users.
You are responsible for both:
- Making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to the Websites.
- Ensuring that all persons who access the Websites through your hardware or internet connection are aware of these Terms of Use and comply with them.
To access certain of the resources offered by the Websites, you may be asked to provide certain registration details or other information. It is a condition of your use of the Websites that all the information you provide on the Websites is correct, current and complete. You agree that all information you provide, including, but not limited to, through the use of any interactive features on the Websites, is governed by our Privacy Policy, and you consent to all actions we take with respect to your information consistent with our Privacy Policy.
If you choose, or are provided with, a user name, password or any other piece of information as part of any security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential, and agree not to disclose it to any other person or entity. You also acknowledge that your account is personal to you and agree not to provide any other person with access to the Websites or portions of them using your user name, password or other security information. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized access to or use of your user name or password, or any other breach of security. You should use particular caution when accessing your account from a public or shared computer so that others are not able to view or record your password, or other personal information.
We have the right to disable any user name, password or other identifier, whether chosen by you or provided by us, at any time in our sole discretion for any or no reason, including if, in our opinion, you have violated any provision of these Terms of Use.
Intellectual Property Rights
The Websites and their 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 laws and trademark laws. The Websites and content on them may also be protected by patent, trade secret and other intellectual property or proprietary rights laws, to the extent applicable. No right or license, express or implied, is granted to you in connection with the Websites, other than a limited, revocable right and license to use the Websites for non-commercial purposes, as expressly permitted by these Terms of Use.
These Terms of Use permit you to use the Websites for your personal, non-commercial use only. You must not reproduce, distribute, modify, create derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, republish, download, store or transmit any of the material on our Website, except as follows:
- Your computer may temporarily store copies of such materials in RAM incidental to your accessing and viewing those materials.
- You may store files that are automatically cached by your Web browser for display enhancement purposes.
- You may print one copy of a reasonable number of pages of the Website for your own personal, non-commercial use and not for further reproduction, publication or distribution.
- If we provide desktop, mobile or other applications for download, you may download a single copy to each computer or mobile device you use, but solely for your own personal, non-commercial use, and only provided you agree to be bound by our end user license agreement for such applications.
You must not:
- Modify copies of any materials from the Websites.
- Access the Websites with any technology other than a no-cost, publicly available web browser.
- Use any technology to scrape, download, search this website that is not provided to you by us under a separate, written license agreement.
- Use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from the accompanying text.
- Delete or alter any copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights notices from copies of materials from this site.
Without limiting the foregoing, you must not access or use for any commercial purposes any part of the Website, or any services or materials available through the Website.
If you wish to make any use of material on the Website other than those permitted users expressly set out in this section of these Terms of Use, please address your request to: legal@thevillages.com.
If you print, copy, modify, download or otherwise use or provide any other person with access to any part of the Website in breach of the Terms of Use, your right to use the Website will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made. No right, title or interest in or to the Website or any content on the Website is transferred to you, and all rights not expressly granted are reserved by the Company. Any use of the Website not expressly permitted by these Terms of Use is a breach of these Terms of Use and may violate copyright, trademark and other laws.
Trademarks
The Company name, the Company logo and all related names, logos, product and service names, designs and slogans are trademarks of the Company or its affiliates or licensors. For a list of many, but not all, of these trademarks see Brand and Trademark. You must not use such marks, or any confusingly similar marks, without the prior written permission of the Company. If you have questions about how you can refer to our trademarks, please see our third party usage guidelines. All other names, logos, product and service names, designs and slogans on this Website are the trademarks of their respective owners.
Prohibited Uses
You may use the Websites only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms of Use. You agree not to use the Website:
- In any way that violates any applicable federal, state, local or international law or regulation (including, without limitation, any laws regarding the export of data or software to and from the US or other countries).
- For the purpose of exploiting, harming or attempting to exploit or harm minors in any way by exposing them to inappropriate content, asking for personally identifiable information or otherwise.
- To defame, malign, stalk or harass any person or business.
- To suggest that you are in any way affiliated with, or endorsed by, The Villages companies or community.
- To disparage, harass, or defame us or The Villages® community or any resident or visitor.
- To create any part of an advertisement, book, movie or audio video production.
- To gain any or analyze any competitive information about us or the community, or its residents or visitors.
- To create, send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use or re-use any material which is hateful, obscene, or otherwise determined by us, in our sole discretion, to be inappropriate.
- To transmit, or procure the sending of, any advertising or promotional material, including any "junk mail”, "chain letter”, "spam”, or any other similar solicitation.
- To impersonate or attempt to impersonate the Company, a Company employee, another user or any other person or entity (including, without limitation, by using e-mail addresses associated with any of the foregoing).
- To engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits anyone's use or enjoyment of the Website, or which, as determined by us, may harm the Company or users of the Website, or expose them to liability.
Additionally, you agree not to:
- Use the Website in any manner that could disable, overburden, damage, or impair the site or interfere with any other party's use of the Website, including their ability to engage in real time activities through the Website.
- Use any robot, spider or other automatic device, process or means to access the Website for any purpose, including monitoring or copying any of the material on the Website (provided, however, that the foregoing shall not apply to indexing by commercial search services such as Google, Bing, Yahoo! and DuckDuckGo, on the condition that all such services respect any no-indexing flag on the Websites).
- Use any manual process to monitor or copy any of the material on the Website, or for any other purpose not expressly authorized in these Terms of Use, without our prior written consent.
- Use any device, software or routine that interferes with the proper working of the Website.
- Introduce any viruses, trojan horses, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful.
- Attempt to gain unauthorized access to, interfere with, damage or disrupt any parts of the Websites, the servers on which the Websites are stored, or any server, computer or database connected to the Websites.
- Attack the Websites via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack.
- Otherwise attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Websites.
WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT YOU MAY NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, USE ANY AUTOMATED SOFTWARE, SYSTEM OR DEVICE TO COLLECT REAL ESTATE LISTING INFORMATION, RENTAL INFORMATION, EVENT SCHEDULING INFORMATION, OR NEWS STORIES FROM ANY PORTION OF OUR WEBSITE. ALL SUCH INFORMATION IS INTENDED FOR VIEWING BY INDIVIDUAL USERS ON OUR WEBSITE ONLY AND MAY NOT BE COLLECTED, POSTED OR AGGREGATED ON ANY OTHER WEBSITE OR USED FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE. ANY SUCH USE IS A MATERIAL BREACH OF THESE TERMS AND MAY SUBJECT YOU TO LEGAL LIABILITY.
User Contributions
The Website may contain message boards, chat rooms, social media features, personal web pages or profiles, forums, bulletin boards, may provide ability to post comments or reviews, or upload phots or videos, and other interactive features (collectively, "Interactive Services") that allow users to post, submit, publish, display or transmit to other users or other persons (hereinafter, "post") content or materials (collectively, "User Contributions") on or through the Websites.
All User Contributions must comply with these Terms of Use.
Any User Contribution you post to the site will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary. By providing any User Contribution on the Website, you grant us and our affiliates and service providers, and each of their and our respective licensees, successors and assigns the irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to use, reproduce, modify, perform, display, distribute and otherwise disclose to third parties any such material for any purpose.
You represent and warrant that:
- You own or control all rights in and to the User Contributions and have the right to grant the license granted above to us and our affiliates and service providers, and each of their and our respective licensees, successors and assigns.
- All of your User Contributions do and will comply with these Terms of Use.
- No User Contributions will disparage or defame any person or entity, or the community.
- No User Contribution will contain obscene, hateful, or abusive content of any kind.
You understand and acknowledge that you are responsible for any User Contributions you submit or contribute, and you, not the Company, have fully responsibility for such content, including its legality, reliability, accuracy and appropriateness.
We are not responsible, or liable to any third party, for the content or accuracy of any User Contributions posted by you or any other user of the Website. While we do not undertake to monitor or review any User Contributions, we reserve the right (without notice or liability of any kind) to remove any User Contributions we determine, in our sole discretion, to be inappropriate for any reason if such User Contribution comes to our attention, or in response to any complaint regarding it.
Monitoring and Enforcement; Termination
Without limiting the foregoing, we have the right to:
- Remove or refuse to post any User Contributions for any or no reason in our sole discretion.
- Take any action with respect to any User Contribution that we deem necessary or appropriate in our sole discretion, including if we believe that such User Contribution violates the Terms of Use, is inappropriate, infringes any intellectual property right or other right of any person or entity, threatens the personal safety of users of the Websites or the public or could create liability for the Company or its affiliates or partners.
- Disclose your identity or other information about you to law enforcement or to any third party who claims that material posted by you violates their rights, including their intellectual property rights or their right to privacy.
- Take appropriate legal action, including without limitation, referral to law enforcement, for any illegal or unauthorized use of the Websites.
- Terminate or suspend your access to all or part of the Websites for any or no reason, including without limitation, any violation of these Terms of Use.
Without limiting the foregoing, we have the right to fully cooperate with any law enforcement authorities or court order requesting or directing us to disclose the identity or other information of anyone posting any materials on or through the Website.
YOU WAIVE AND HOLD HARMLESS THE COMPANY AND ITS AFFILIATES, LICENSEES AND SERVICE PROVIDERS FROM ANY CLAIMS RESULTING FROM ANY ACTION TAKEN BY ANY OF THE FOREGOING PARTIES DURING OR AS A RESULT OF ITS INVESTIGATIONS AND FROM ANY ACTIONS TAKEN AS A CONSEQUENCE OF INVESTIGATIONS BY EITHER SUCH PARTIES OR LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES.
We do not undertake to review all material before it is posted on the Website, and cannot ensure prompt removal of objectionable material after it has been posted. Accordingly, we assume no liability for any action or inaction regarding transmissions, communications or content provided by any user or third party. We have no liability or responsibility to anyone for performance or nonperformance of the activities described in this section.
Content Standards
These content standards apply to any and all User Contributions and use of Interactive Services. User Contributions must in their entirety comply with all applicable federal, state, local and international laws and regulations. Without limiting the foregoing, User Contributions must not:
- Contain any material which is defamatory, obscene, indecent, abusive, offensive, harassing, violent, hateful, inflammatory or otherwise objectionable.
- Promote sexually explicit or pornographic material, violence, or discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age.
- Infringe any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other intellectual property or other rights of any other person.
- Violate the legal rights (including the rights of publicity and privacy) of others or contain any material that could give rise to any civil or criminal liability under applicable laws or regulations or that otherwise may be in conflict with these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
- Be likely to deceive any person.
- Promote any illegal activity, or advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act.
- Cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety or be likely to upset, embarrass, alarm or annoy any other person.
- Impersonate any person, or misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person or organization.
- Involve commercial activities or sales, such as contests, sweepstakes and other sales promotions, barter or advertising.
- Give the impression that they emanate from or are endorsed by us or any other person or entity, if this is not the case.
Infringement
If you believe that any User Contributions or other content on the Website violates your copyright rights, trademark rights, or other rights, please send an email to legal@thevillages.com notifying us of your concern. If the concern relates to copyright, please be sure to provide at least the following information:
- Identification of the: (i) copyrighted work(s) infringed; (ii) the infringing activity; and (iii) the location of the infringing activity (typically by providing the URL).
- Contact information of the notice sender, including an email address.
- A statement that the notifier has a good faith belief that the use of the material is not authorized by the intellectual property or copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
- A statement that the information provided is accurate and the notifier is authorized to make the complaint on behalf of the intellectual property or copyright owner.
- The signature of the copyright owner or owner's agent, in physical or electronic form.
You may also contact us by sending the same information by U.S. mail to:
The Villages Office of the General Counsel
3619 Kiessel Rd.
The Villages, Florida 32163
Attn: Copyright Agent
Reliance on Information Posted
The information presented on or through the Website 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 disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on such materials by you or any other visitor to the Website, or by anyone who may be informed of any of its contents.
This Website may include content provided by third parties, including materials in the public domain, materials provided by government agencies and units (e.g. Community Development Districts ("CDDs")), and materials provided by other users and other third-party licensors. All statements and/or opinions expressed in these materials, and all articles and responses to questions and other content, other than the content provided directly by the Company or its affiliates, 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 or its affiliates. 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.
Changes to the Website
We may update the content on this Website from time to time, but its content is not necessarily complete or up-to-date. Any of the material on the Website may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update such material. In particular, please be advised that any real estate or property listing shown on the Website must be verified with the listing agent for accuracy and may change at any time.
Information About You and Your Visits to the Website
All information we collect on this Website is subject to our Privacy Policy. By using the Website, you consent to all actions taken by us with respect to your information in compliance with the Privacy Policy.
Linking to the Website and Social Media Features
You may link to our homepage, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it, but you must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part. You may not use our logo in any way in connection with such link, or otherwise, without our prior written consent.
This Website may provide certain social media features that enable you to:
- Link from your own or certain third-party websites to certain content on this Website.
- Send e-mails or other communications with certain content, or links to certain content, on this Website.
- Cause limited portions of content on this Website to be displayed or appear to be displayed on your own or certain third-party websites.
You may use these features solely as they are provided by us and solely with respect to the content they are displayed with. Subject to the foregoing, you must not:
- Establish a link from any website that is not owned by you.
- Cause the Website or portions of it to be displayed, or appear to be displayed by, for example, framing, deep linking or in-line linking, on any other site.
- Link to any part of the Website other than the homepage.
- Otherwise take any action with respect to the materials on this Website that is inconsistent with any other provision of these Terms of Use.
The website from which you are linking, or on which you make certain content accessible, must comply in all respects with the standards set out in these Terms of Use.
You agree to cooperate with us in causing any unauthorized framing or linking immediately to cease. We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.
We may disable all or any social media features and any links at any time without notice in our discretion.
Links from the Website
If the Website 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 this Website, you do so entirely at your own risk and subject to the terms and conditions of use for such websites.
Geographic Restrictions
The owner of the Website is based in the State of Florida in the United States. We provide this Website for use only by persons located in the United States. We make no claims that the Website or any of its content is accessible or appropriate outside of the United States. Access to the Website may not be legal by certain persons or in certain countries. If you access the Website from outside the United States, you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws. If you are a resident of the European Union, or any other location that imposes privacy laws and regulations that are stricter than, or inconsistent with, what is agreed to in our Privacy Policy, then you must not provide any personal information to our Website.
Disclaimer of Warranties
You understand that we cannot and do not guarantee or warrant that files available for downloading from the internet or the Website will be free of viruses or other destructive or malicious 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.
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 MATERIAL DUE TO YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE OR TO YOUR DOWNLOADING OF ANY MATERIAL POSTED ON IT, OR ON ANY WEBSITE LINKED TO IT.
YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS” AND "AS AVAILABLE” BASIS, WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.
NEITHER THE COMPANY NOR ITS AFFILIATES NOR ANY PERSON ASSOCIATED WITH THE COMPANY OR ITS AFFILIATES MAKES ANY WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION WITH RESPECT TO THE COMPLETENESS, SECURITY, RELIABILITY, QUALITY, ACCURACY OR AVAILABILITY OF THE WEBSITE. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, NEITHER THE COMPANY NOR ITS AFFILIATES, NOR ANYONE ASSOCIATED WITH THE COMPANY OR ITS AFFILIATES, REPRESENTS OR WARRANTS THAT THE WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE 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 WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE WILL OTHERWISE MEET YOUR NEEDS OR EXPECTATIONS.
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 WHICH CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.
Limitation on Liability
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PROVIDED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL THE COLLECTIVE LIABILITY OF THE COMPANY AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES AND AFFILIATES, AND THEIR LICENSORS, SERVICE PROVIDERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, OFFICERS, AND DIRECTORS, TO ANY PARTY (REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF ACTION, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE) EXCEED $1.00
The limitation of liability set out above does not apply to liability resulting from our gross negligence or willful misconduct or death or bodily injury to the extent caused by the site.
THE FOREGOING DOES NOT AFFECT ANY LIABILITY WHICH CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.
Indemnification
You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Company, its affiliates, licensors and service providers, and its and their respective officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents, licensors, suppliers, successors and assigns from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, judgments, awards, losses, costs, expenses or fees (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to your violation of these Terms of Use or your use of the Website, including, but not limited to, your User Contributions, any use of the Website's content, services and products other than as expressly authorized in these Terms of Use, or your use of any information obtained from the Website.
Dispute Resolution, Arbitration and Class Action Waiver
PLEASE READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY. IT AFFECTS YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING YOUR RIGHT TO FILE A LAWSUIT IN COURT. AGREEING TO RESOLVE CLAIMS THROUGH ARBITRATION THAT WOULD OTHERWISE BE RESOLVED IN A COURT OF LAW IS AN IMPORTANT DECISION. YOU SHOULD TAKE REASONABLE STEPS TO CONFER WITH OTHERS IF YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS ABOUT AGREEING TO ARBITRATION OR WAIVING YOUR RIGHT TO PROCEED AS PART OF A CLASS.
You agree that these Terms of Use affect interstate commerce and that the Federal Arbitration Act governs the interpretation and enforcement of these arbitration provisions. This Section is intended to be interpreted broadly and governs any and all disputes asserted by you against us, arising out of or relating to any aspect of the Website or any App provided by us or our affiliates, whether based in contract, tort, statute, fraud, misrepresentation or any other legal theory, including both claims that arose before these Terms of Use were accepted (including, but not limited to, claims related to advertising, and any content available on or through our website(s)), and claims that may arise after the termination of these Terms of Use. The only disputes excluded from this broad prohibition are (i) the litigation of certain intellectual property, (ii) small court claims, and (iii) in the event of a separate signed agreement between you and us or our affiliates (such as an agreement to list or purchase real estate) that has its own dispute resolution terms (collectively "Other Disputes”).
By agreeing to these Terms of Use, you agree to resolve any and all disputes asserted by you or your successors against the Company or its affiliates that arise in any way from your use of the Websites or any App provided by us or any information collected or provided by the Websites or any App provided by us as follows:
Initial Dispute Resolution: Most disputes can be resolved without resort to litigation. You can reach us regarding any dispute by emailing us at legal@thevillages.com or by mailing us a letter describing the dispute at the address shown in the last section of these Terms of Use. Except for intellectual property and small claims court claims, the parties agree to use their best efforts to settle any dispute, claim, question, or disagreement directly through consultation with us, and good faith negotiations shall be a condition to you initiating a lawsuit or arbitration.
Binding Arbitration: If the parties do not reach an agreed-upon solution within a period of thirty (30) days from the time informal dispute resolution is initiated as set forth above, then you may initiate binding arbitration as the sole means to resolve claims, subject to the terms set forth below. Specifically, all claims arising out of or relating to these Terms of Use and Privacy Policy (including the Terms of Use' or Privacy Policy's formation, performance, and breach), the parties' relationship with each other, and/or your use of our App or our Website(s) shall be finally settled by binding arbitration administered by JAMS in accordance with the JAMS Streamlined Arbitration Procedure Rules for claims that do not exceed $250,000 and the JAMS Comprehensive Arbitration Rules and Procedures for claims exceeding $250,000 in effect at the time the arbitration is initiated, excluding any rules or procedures governing or permitting class actions. The arbitration shall apply the laws of the State of Florida, irrespective of any conflicts of laws principles or rules.
The arbitrator, and not any federal, state, or local court or agency, shall have exclusive authority to resolve all disputes arising out of or relating to the interpretation, applicability, enforceability, or formation of these Terms of Use or the Privacy Policy, including but not limited to any claim that all or any part of these Terms of Use or Privacy Policy is unenforceable, void or voidable, whether a claim is subject to arbitration, or the question of waiver by litigation conduct. The arbitrator shall be empowered to grant whatever relief would be available in a court under law or in equity. The arbitrator's award shall be written and shall be binding on the parties and may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction.
To start an arbitration, you must do the following: (a) write a Demand for Arbitration that includes a description of the claim and the amount of damages you seek to recover (you may find a copy of a Demand for Arbitration at www.jamsadr.com); (b) send three copies of the Demand for Arbitration, plus the appropriate filing fee, to JAMS, 620 Eighth Ave. NY Times Building 34th Floor New York, NY 10018 USA; and (c) send one copy of the Demand for Arbitration to us at the address set forth in the last section of these Terms of Use.
To the extent the filing fee for the arbitration exceeds the cost of filing a lawsuit, we will pay the additional cost. If the arbitrator finds the arbitration to be non-frivolous, we will pay the fees invoiced by JAMS, including filing fees and arbitrator and hearing expenses. You are responsible, however, for your own attorneys' fees unless the arbitration rules and/or applicable law provide otherwise.
You understand that this arbitration provision is mandatory in the event you desire to assert a claim against us or our affiliates that arises from the Website(s), any App provided by us or our affiliates, or any information collected or provided by the Website(s) or any such App. In the event that we wish to assert a claim against you, we may do so using arbitration as set forth in this section, or by filing a court action.
The parties understand that, absent this mandatory arbitration provision, you would have the right to sue in court and have a jury trial. They further understand that, in some instances, the costs of arbitration could exceed the costs of litigation and the right to discovery may be more limited in arbitration than in court.
If you are a resident of the United States, arbitration may take place in the county where you reside at the time of filing. For individuals residing outside the United States, arbitration shall be initiated in the State of Florida, United States of America. You and Related further agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of any federal or state court in Sumter County Florida, or the United States District Court, Middle District of Florida in order to compel arbitration, to stay proceedings pending arbitration, or to confirm, modify, vacate, or enter judgment on the award entered by the arbitrator.
Class Action Waiver: The parties further agree that the arbitration shall be conducted in their individual capacities only, and not as a class action or other representative action, and you expressly waive your right to file a class action or seek relief on a class basis.
YOU AGREE THAT YOU MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST US OR OUR AFFILIATES ONLY IN YOUR INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING.
If any court or arbitrator determines that the class action waiver set forth in this paragraph is void or unenforceable for any reason or that an arbitration can proceed on a class basis, then the arbitration provisions set forth above shall be deemed null and void in their entirety and the parties shall be deemed to have not agreed to arbitrate disputes.
Exception for Litigation of Intellectual Property and Small Claims Court Claims: Notwithstanding the parties' decision to resolve all disputes through arbitration, either party may bring enforcement actions, validity determinations or claims arising from or relating to theft, piracy or unauthorized use of intellectual property in state or federal court or in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to protect its intellectual property rights ("intellectual property rights” means patents, copyrights, moral rights, trademarks, and trade secrets, but not privacy or publicity rights). Either party may also seek relief in a small claims court for disputes or claims within the scope of that court's jurisdiction.
30-Day Right to Opt Out: You have the option to opt out and not be bound by the arbitration and class action waiver provisions set forth above by sending written notice of your decision to opt out to legal@thevillages.com with the subject line, "ARBITRATION AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER OPT-OUT.” The notice must be sent within thirty (30) days of your agreement to these Terms; otherwise, you shall be bound to arbitrate disputes in accordance with the terms of those paragraphs, and will also have waived your right to bring a class, representative or collective action against us. If you opt out of these arbitration provisions, we also will not be bound by them either.
IF YOU CHOOSE TO OPT-OUT, WE WILL SEND YOU A CONFIRMATION OF YOUR OPT-OUT REQUEST BY EMAIL OR MAIL. THAT CONFIRMATION IS YOUR PROOF THAT WE RECEVED AND PROCESSED YOUR OPT-OUT REQUEST. YOUR OPT-OUT IS NOT EFFECTIVE UNLESS AND UNTIL YOU RECEIVE THAT CONFIRMATION. IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE YOUR CONFIRMATION WITHIN FOURTEEN DAYS, YOU SHOULD ASSUME THAT WE DID NOT RECEIVE IT AND MUST RE-SUBMIT IT BY SENDING IT IN WRITING TO THE ADDRESS BELOW, WITH DELIVERY CONFIRMATION, TO ENSURE THAT WE RECEIVED IT.
YOU AGREE THAT, IF YOU EVER CHALLENGE THE ENFORCEABILITY OF THE ARBITRATION AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER PROVISIONS SET FORTH ABOVE, IT WILL BE YOUR BURDEN TO PRODUCE THE CONFIRMATION AS EVIDENCE THAT YOU FOLLOWED THE OPT-OUT PROCEDURE CORRECTLY.
Changes to This Section: Changes to this section will apply prospectively only to claims arising after the thirtieth (30th) day after the revised Terms of Use have been posted. If a court or arbitrator decides that this subsection on "Changes to This Section” is not enforceable or valid, then this subsection shall be severed from the section entitled "Arbitration and Class Action Waiver,” and the court or arbitrator shall apply the first Arbitration and Class Action Waiver section in existence after you began using the Website.
Survival: This Arbitration and Class Action Waiver section shall survive any termination of these Terms of Use or any cessation of use of the Website or any App provided by us or our affiliates.
Governing Law and Jurisdiction
All matters relating to the Website and these Terms of Use, the Privacy Policy, any information provided or collected by the Website or any App provided by us or our affiliates, and any dispute or claim arising therefrom or related thereto (in each case, including non-contractual disputes or claims), shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of Florida without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision or rule (whether of the State of Florida or any other jurisdiction).
Any legal suit, action or proceeding arising out of, or related to these Terms of Use or the Website that is not resolved through arbitration as set forth above, shall be instituted exclusively in the courts of the State of Florida located in Sumter County, Florida, or the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, although we retain the right to bring any suit, action or proceeding against you for breach of these Terms of Use or violation of our intellectual property rights or other rights in your place of residence. You waive any and all objections to the exercise of jurisdiction over you by such courts and to venue in such courts.
Limitation on Time to File Claims
TO THE EXTENT PROHIBITED BY LAW, ANY CAUSE OF ACTION OR CLAIM YOU MAY HAVE ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OF USE OR THE WEBSITES OR ANY APP PROVIDED BY US OR OUR AFFILIATES OR ANY INFORMATION PRESENTED OR COLLECTED BY THE WEBSITES OR ANY SUCH APP MUST BE COMMENCED WITHIN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION ACCRUES; OTHERWISE, SUCH CAUSE OF ACTION OR CLAIM IS WAIVED AND PERMANENTLY BARRED.
Waiver and Severability
No waiver of by the Company of any term or condition set forth in these Terms of Use 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 of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.
If any provision of these Terms of Use is held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable for any reason, such provision shall be eliminated or limited to the minimum extent such that the remaining provisions of the Terms of Use will continue in full force and effect.
Entire Agreement
The Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy constitute the sole and entire agreement between you and Holding Company of The Villages (or any of our affiliates) with respect to the Website and supersede all prior and contemporaneous understandings, agreements, representations and warranties, both written and oral, with respect to the Website.
Your Comments and Concerns
This website is operated by Holding Company of The Villages. Please direct any comments or concerns to
The Villages Office of the General Counsel
3619 Kiessel Rd.
The Villages, Florida 32163
You may also direct feedback, comments, requests and complaints relating to the Website should be directed to: legal@thevillages.com.