Q: As a middle-man, am I liable for the product I advertise if I am the one collecting the customers' money?
I am starting a business in which I am taking online reservations from foreign students for a private school based in the US. The school is willing to pay me a commission for each student I bring. I am thinking of charging students the full tuition cost, then I would take care of their enrollment paperwork, and then I would pay the school back and keep my commission. The students would then sign a contract with the school, but not with me. I am wondering if me taking the students money directly makes me liable for anything. Is it better to let the students pay the school directly? Thank you.
A: From the facts you presented, if you were to contract with the students and they were to pay your company or you directly you could have liability exposure should some contract issue arise where the school or you/your company were viewed to be in some sort of breach of that contract. Whenever an entity or individual enters into a contract arrangement dependent on yet another entity (such as the school(s) here) there is a possibility that you or your company could be implicated should something go wrong. That's just the way things go in litigation--a party may be inclined to name as a responsible party any of those in any way, even remotely, associated with the transaction.
A: A large number of issues. Start with if the student is unhappy--who have they dealt with? School will say "we made no representations to you....Mr. X did." Secondly, if they pay you not the institution, may run afoul of proof of student assets for support for INS. Finally, if it goes south they will look to you and may get whatever they paid you, and you may face charges in their country of origin. Sure you can't find anything else?
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