Terms & Conditions – Appraisal Review Service Agreement
1. Use of Deliverables
2. Client Responsibilities
3. Collateral Valuation Program
4. Standard of Care For MountainSeed
MountainSeed warrants and agrees that all work performed by it pursuant to this Agreement (a) shall conform to the terms of this Agreement, and (b) shall be performed in a good, skillful and workmanlike manner. The foregoing warranty is exclusive and in lieu of all other representations and warranties, whether express or implied, including the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. For any breach of the above warranty, Client’s exclusive remedy, and MountainSeed’s entire liability, shall be re-performance of the services.
5. Reviews
Client acknowledges that MountainSeed’s Reviews are not all-inclusive. There may be material factors and regulations not considered by MountainSeed in the performance of a Review. In performing a Review, all data and information contained in the appraisal report is assumed to be accurate and correct, and MountainSeed shall have no obligation to investigate or verify information contained in the appraisal. No opinion of value is developed or reported during the preparation of a Review. MountainSeed’s Review may not be relied upon as a promise, guarantee or warranty as to the value reported in an appraisal and is not an indication that the reviewer agrees or disagrees with the reported value.Except as set forth in Section 4 above, all Reviews performed by MountainSeed hereunder are provided “AS-IS,” and MountainSeed makes no warranties, representations or guarantees of any kind, either express, implied, statutory or otherwise, with respect to the Review.
6. Panel
7. Forms and Policies; Changes to the Scope of Our Services
MountainSeed may, from time to time, revise written forms (including Order Forms, Review forms, and other written forms) or adopt, revise, or abandon written policies. Client specifically agrees to comply with written client policies, as revised, adopted or abandoned from time to time. In addition, from time to time, it may be necessary for MountainSeed to go further than revising, adopting or abandoning written forms or policies. In those situations, MountainSeed may need to amend the specific written descriptions of the scope of our services contained in this Agreement or to revise these Standard Terms and Conditions as they apply to specific services (collectively, the “Scope of Our Services”). Client will be deemed to have accepted amendments to the Scope of Our Services with respect to any order placed 30 days or more after the Client receives notice of that amendment; provided, however, that for any amendment that MountainSeed advises is being made to comply with applicable law, Client will be deemed to have accepted such amendment immediately upon receipt. No MountainSeed employee, officer, director, member, manager, agent, or representative is authorized to amend the Scope of Our Services, except for MountainSeed’s Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer or Chief Legal Officer (“Authorized Officers”). To be valid, any notice of an amendment to the Scope of Our Services must be in writing, be signed by an Authorized Officer, and contain the following language in all caps: “THIS CHANGE NOTICE AMENDS THE SCOPE OF OUR SERVICES. PLEASE REFER TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CONTAINED IN YOUR AGREEMENT.” MountainSeed will use good faith efforts to notify the Client’s designated primary contact (to the extent specifically named on the Acceptance Page above) in writing of any revision to written forms, any adoption, revision or abandonment of written client policies, or any alteration to the Scope of Our Services. With respect to the method of delivery of notices contemplated under this Agreement, typically MountainSeed provides those types of notices to the Client electronically, either via e-mail or, if MountainSeed has made available to the Client an electronic appraisal-management workflow system (including any internet-based system or other software system to which the Client has access for purposes of entering, monitoring or tracking orders under this Agreement), via a message or notification delivered electronically through that system. The Client agrees that those notices to be delivered by MountainSeed to the Client under this Agreement (including to the Client’s designated primary contact, as applicable) may be, but are not required to be, delivered electronically.
8. Limitation of Liability
IN NO EVENT SHALL MOUNTAINSEED OR ITS AFFILIATES BE LIABLE TO CLIENT, WHETHER IN CONTRACT OR IN TORT OR UNDER ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR SIMILAR DAMAGES, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE PERFORMANCE OR NON-PERFORMANCE OF THIS AGREEMENT, OR FOR ANY CLAIM MADE AGAINST CLIENT BY ANY OTHER PARTY, EVEN IF MOUNTAINSEED HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH CLAIM. IN NO EVENT SHALL MOUNTAINSEED’S OR ITS AFFILIATES’ LIABILITY UNDER ANY CLAIM MADE BY CLIENT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF FEES PAID BY CLIENT DURING THE TWELVE (12) MONTH PERIOD IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE CAUSE GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM; OR (B) TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND AND NO/100 DOLLARS ($25,000.00).
9. Indemnity
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Client shall defend, indemnify, and hold harmless MountainSeed and its affiliates, directors, members, managers, officers, employees and agents from and against any and all claims, losses, damages, suits, fees, judgments, costs and expenses (including attorneys’ fees) caused by or arising from (a) Client’s breach of this Agreement and/or (b) the actions or omissions of Client or its affiliates, directors, members, managers, officers and employees.
10. Legal Expenses
11. Independent Contractor/Scope of Agency
12. Project Time
13. Severability; Survival
14. General Confidentiality
Each party (the “Receiving Party”) agrees that it shall protect any Confidential Information disclosed to it by the other party (the “Disclosing Party”) with the same care that the Receiving Party protects its own Confidential Information, and in no case less than reasonable care. The Receiving Party shall not disclose Confidential Information to any third party without the prior written consent of the Disclosing Party. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Receiving Party may disclose Confidential Information (a) to any governmental authority pursuant to its legal authority to obtain such information; (b) to third parties as required pursuant to legal process in due consideration of the confidentiality obligations under this Agreement; (c) with regard to Nonpublic Personal Information, to third parties providing services to the Receiving Party as “necessary to effect, administer, or enforce the transaction” as such phrase is defined in the GLB Act for the performance of the Receiving Party’s obligations under this Agreement or as otherwise permitted by applicable law provided that such third party is subject to a confidentiality agreement at least as restrictive as this Agreement; or (d) to any third party for purposes of providing the Receiving Party’s obligations under this Agreement provided that such third party is subject to a confidentiality agreement at least as restrictive as this Agreement. The Receiving Party shall use the Confidential Information of the Disclosing Party solely for the purposes of performing its obligations under this Agreement. For purposes of this Agreement, “Confidential Information” includes all Nonpublic Personal Information, Customer Information, or other proprietary or confidential information, which (i) is designated in writing as such; (ii) to the extent defined by applicable law or regulation is required to be maintained as confidential; or (iii) is imparted orally to the other party and is orally designated as confidential, and Receiving Party receives a written summary of such within five business days of disclosure, and all tangible reproductions or embodiments of such information that are marked as Confidential Information. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Confidential Information does not include any information which: (i) is already known to the Receiving Party at the time of its disclosure independent of any confidentiality obligation; (ii) is or becomes publicly known through no wrongful act of the Receiving Party; (iii) is independently developed by or for the Receiving Party without reliance on any of the Confidential Information; (iv) is received by the Receiving Party from a third party without similar confidentiality restrictions and without breach of this Agreement; (v) is approved for release by written authorization of the Disclosing Party; or (vi) is an aggregation of data not personally identifiable to the Disclosing Party or its customers, inclusive of the “Market Data” defined in Section 17 of these Standard Terms and Conditions. As used throughout this Agreement, the term “GLB Act” shall mean the provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act regarding disclosure of nonpublic personal financial information (15 U.S.C. §§ 6801-6809) and all applicable rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, then in force. The term “Nonpublic Personal Information” shall be as defined in the GLB Act. The term “Customer Information” shall have the meaning ascribed to it in the Interagency Security Guidelines, and (to the extent applicable) in 16 C.F.R. § 314.2. The term “Interagency Security Guidelines” shall mean the Interagency Guidelines Establishing Information Security Standards, inclusive of the Interagency Guidance on Response Programs for Unauthorized Access to Customer Information (Supplement A), as set forth at 12 C.F.R. Part 30, App. B [OCC], 12 C.F.R. Part 208, App. D-2 and part 225, App. F [Board], 12 C.F.R. Part 364, App. B [FDIC], and 12 C.F.R. Part 748, App. A [NCUA], as then in effect and applicable to Client. The terms of this Section 14 shall survive the termination or expiration of the Agreement.
15. Privacy and Data Security
In addition to, and without limiting any of its confidentiality or other obligations hereunder, Client represents and warrants that it shall not disclose any Nonpublic Personal Information to MountainSeed except under circumstances in which, and for the purposes that, it is permissible to do so under the GLB Act and with other statutory, legal and regulatory requirements (collectively, “Privacy Laws”). Notwithstanding the foregoing, it may be necessary for Client to disclose to MountainSeed certain Customer Information to enable MountainSeed to deliver the services contemplated by this Agreement and as “necessary to effect, administer, or enforce the transaction” as such phrase is defined in the GLB Act. MountainSeed acknowledges that Client is required to comply with the information security standards required by the Privacy Laws. Accordingly, in addition to and without limiting MountainSeed’s obligations regarding Confidential Information, MountainSeed agrees to implement commercially reasonable information security measures consistent with the Interagency Security Guidelines. Further, upon reasonable request from the Client, MountainSeed will make commercially reasonable efforts to assist Client in complying with applicable Privacy Laws, as amended from time to time, including but not limited to providing information regarding MountainSeed’s own information security program and its compliance with applicable laws and regulations relevant to the performance of services under this Agreement. As authorized in this Agreement, MountainSeed may use subcontractors and other vendors (such as independent contractor review appraisers, website hosting services, software providers) and MountainSeed will establish reasonable controls designed to ensure that any subcontractor or vendor that may have access to Customer Information will be subject to the same Privacy and Data Security terms as this Agreement. For clarity, this Agreement is not intended to and shall not create, or obligate MountainSeed to enter into, a direct relationship with any Client customer, or to require MountainSeed to provide, on behalf of Client, any initial, annual or other privacy, opt-out, or similar notice to Client’s customers.
16. Unauthorized Access to Sensitive Customer Information
MountainSeed acknowledges that the Client may have obligations pursuant to the Interagency Security Guidelines to implement an incident response program. Accordingly, MountainSeed agrees to notify the Client as soon as practicable following MountainSeed’s obtaining actual knowledge after a reasonable investigation of the occurrence of an incident of unauthorized access to the Client’s Sensitive Customer Information, if any, contained in a Customer Information System maintained by MountainSeed or any subcontractor or vendor having authorized access to Client Customer Information for the performance of MountainSeed’s obligations under this Agreement (“Security Incident”). Provided, however, in no event shall MountainSeed be obliged to notify, on the Client’s behalf, the Client’s customers, law enforcement, the Client’s regulator(s), or any other third party, with regard to any such Security Incident. Client agrees that notwithstanding any other obligations of MountainSeed set forth in this Agreement, this Section 16 shall constitute the entire responsibility of MountainSeed with regard to any unauthorized access to Sensitive Customer Information. For purposes of this Agreement, the terms “Sensitive Customer Information” and “Customer Information System” shall have the same meaning ascribed to them in the Interagency Security Guidelines.
17. Market Data
Notwithstanding any other provision in this Agreement, Client acknowledges and agrees that MountainSeed may extract and compile market data, including without limitation: information relating to comparable sales, rents, operating expenses, income, leases, and leasing activity; neighborhood descriptions; economic trends; and similar information contained in, or obtained through the development of, appraisals, evaluations, data products, analytics and other work product either delivered to the Client under this Agreement or provided to MountainSeed by the Client, including, without limitation, for purposes of populating databases to be used by MountainSeed and its affiliates in future performance of services for, and product offerings to Client and other clients (“Market Data”). Any such databases or other compilation of data extracted and compiled by MountainSeed shall be owned solely by MountainSeed, and Client specifically disclaims, transfers, and assigns to MountainSeed any right, title or interest in and to such databases and compilations and the information contained in them; provided, however, that this sentence shall not limit the Client’s rights to use a Review in accordance with the terms of this Agreement. For the absence of doubt, any such information extracted from an appraisal report provided to MountainSeed pursuant to this Agreement and compiled by MountainSeed solely in accordance with the rights granted to MountainSeed under this paragraph shall not include the opinion of the value of the subject property as stated in the appraisal report, or any other Confidential Information relating to the subject property or the loan or transaction underlying the appraisal (including the identity of the lender and the identity of the borrower), or any Confidential Information with respect to the Client, the borrower, or the Client’s or borrower’s business operations.
18. Assignment
19. Governing Law
20. No Legal Advice
Client acknowledges that MountainSeed is not a law firm and that nothing provided to Client by MountainSeed constitutes legal advice. Client should seek the assistance of its regulatory counsel with respect to compliance with any and all regulations, laws, and guidelines.
If you would like to contact MountainSeed regarding these Terms and Conditions, please contact:
MountainSeed Appraisal Management, LLC
2100 Powers Ferry Road, SE, Suite 410
Atlanta, GA 30339
Attention:Dan Wharton
Last Revised: March 23, 2022