Terms of Use Agreement

 Last Revised: September 25, 2024

General Information

Welcome to the website of The Grief Recovery Institute, Inc. (“GRI” “we” or “us”). This Terms of Use Agreement (these “Terms”) apply to the website at www.griefrecoverymethod.com (the “Site”). The Site is devoted to helping individuals deal with emotional loss, offering workshops in the Grief Recovery Method® and certifying specialists to offer these workshops (our “Services”). To use our Site and the Services, you must be at least 13 years of age. Please read these Terms carefully and save a copy for your records. 

AN AGREEMENT TO ARBITRATE CLAIMS AND CERTAIN DISCLAIMERS OF WARRANTIES AND LIABILITY ARE ESSENTIAL PARTS OF THESE TERMS. IN BINDING ARBITRATION, YOU GIVE UP THE RIGHT TO GO TO COURT, AND TO PARTICIPATE IN OR BRING CLASS ACTIONS. YOUR RIGHTS WILL BE DETERMINED BY A NEUTRAL ARBITRATOR AND NOT BY A JUDGE OR JURY. 

International Users

GRI operates the Site in the United States and the parties intend this Agreement to be governed by U.S. law. If you are accessing the Site from another country, you are bound by this Agreement and its arbitration clause to the full extent permitted by your country’s laws.

Agreement to Terms

To register to use the Services offered through the Site, you must show you agreed to these Terms by clicking to accept them. If you access, browse or use the Site without registering or purchasing, your access is on condition that you do not violate these Terms. The Site is the property of GRI. Please read these Terms carefully and do not use the Site if you do not agree to these Terms. GRI operates the Site and has the right at any time to modify it, at its option. If GRI alters these Terms in a way that materially diminishes your rights, GRI will notify you, and your continued use of the Site or Services after notice of changes means you accept the changes.  If you do not agree to any of the changes, you will (as your sole remedy) stop using the Site. The Terms can not be changed except as specified, and any attempt by you to modify the Terms unilaterally is void. 

Coupons, Promotions and Pricing

All discount codes, coupons and similar promotional offers must be entered prior to payment. Misuse of such codes or coupons violates these Terms.

License to Use

You may use the Site for its intended purposes as long as you comply with these Terms. You may make private non-commercial use of the Site, but you may not charge a fee to use or help use the Site, without a separate agreement between you and GRI, such as a specialist certification license.  For institutional and business access to the GRI Services, contact us. 

Prohibited Conduct

You may not use the Site to transmit any content or engage in any conduct which:

• Is unlawful;

• Infringes any intellectual property or proprietary right owned by GRI or a third party;

• Violates these Terms;

• Contains material that is false, intentionally misleading, or defamatory;

• Harasses or threatens others; 

• Involves the use or distribution of malware, meaning viruses, trojan horses, trap doors, easter eggs, worms, time bombs, packet bombs, ransomware, cancelbots and any other computer programs or routines that damage, detrimentally interfere with, surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any system data or user information;

• Involves SPAM or using the Site to send unsolicited communications about any goods or services;

• Involves extracting data from the Site for any improper purpose, including but limited to, marketing to our specialists using any automated means such as bots, harvesters, scrapers, or spiders, except by permission of GRI;

• Involves creating more than one account for the same person;

• Involves impersonating any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity;

• Involves publishing or sharing your login credential or those of another user;

• Involves helping or enabling others to violate these Terms;

• Includes denial of service attacks or other acts that unduly burden the infrastructure of our Site;

• Involves republishing or presenting any part of any of the Site in a “frame” or inline link on any other site; 

• Involves attempting to copy, decode, reverse-engineer, decompile or disassemble any software used by GRI to provide the Site; or

• Is in violation of applicable law. 

We may withdraw permission to use the Site at any time, for any reason, including but not limited to your violation of these Terms.  If your access is terminated, you may not open a new GRI account without our express permission.  In addition to terminating your access, GRI reserves all legal rights and remedies in response to a violation of these Terms.

Your Personally Identifiable Information

GRI takes your privacy seriously. To view our Privacy Policy, click here.  The Site logs certain technical information (as described in the Privacy Policy) about all user visits to the Site, linked to your PII if you are registered. GRI does not and will not sell or give away your PII for purposes of allowing others to market to you.  GRI grants you various rights related to your PII in the areas of notice, access, accuracy/correction and deletion, all as specified in the Privacy Policy. 

User Log-In and Passwords 

To make a purchase on the Site, the Site requires a User ID and password, or similar login credentials.  You will maintain the security and confidentiality of your login credentials, and notify GRI if you believe your login credentials have been compromised. 

GRI Intellectual Property

The Site and its contents are protected by copyright, trademark, trade dress and other intellectual property rights. You may only use the Site consistently with our rights. 

GRIEF RECOVERY INSTITUTE and THE GRIEF RECOVERY METHOD are registered service marks of GRI. Our marks include, without limitation, the following: 

Grief Recovery Institute® 

The Grief Recovery Method® 

Grief Recovery Method Specialist Certified by the Grief Recovery Institute® 

Grief ❤️ Recovery®   

Certified Grief Recovery Specialist® 

  ®

™

  ™

The GRI logos, and other trademarks, service marks, labels, product names and service names (“Marks”) are owned or licensed by GRI. You may not otherwise copy, display or use the Marks without the prior written permission of GRI. You will not use the Marks in any way likely to cause confusion, or in connection with any product or service that is not authorized or sponsored by GRI. The Site, and all its content including without limitation their look-and-feel, text, graphics, multimedia content, images, illustrations, audio and video clips, content in html and other markup languages, and all scripts associated with them are owned by GRI or by its licensors or content providers.  Reproduction of the entire GRI Site is strictly prohibited. Any content copied, downloaded or printed from the Site must retain all copyright, trademark and other notices of proprietary rights. The device of a registered user, who is using the Site as intended, may store and display certain content from the Site.

Terminating Your Account

You may terminate your use and close your GRI account at any time.  These Terms will cease to apply, but your responsibility for your past use of the Site under these Terms will survive.

Required Notices

You agree to receive exclusively via email, to the address last provided by you to GRI, any notice that we are required to send to you.  You will keep your contact information current and promptly notify GRI if you discover any unauthorized use of your information.

Our Compliance With Copyright Law (DMCA)

If you believe your copyright in a work has been infringed on our Site, please contact our agent for notice of claims of copyright violation:

Copyright Compliance, Grief Recovery Institute Inc. 

9030 North Hess Street #582

Hayden, ID 83835

[email protected]

You must provide our agent with all of the following information in writing:

• a description of the copyrighted work you believe has been infringed;

• information sufficient to identify the location of the allegedly infringing material on the Site;

• your address, telephone number, and email address;

• a statement to the effect that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;

• a declaration, under penalty of perjury, that the information you have provided is accurate and that you are the owner of the copyright involved or you are authorized to act on behalf of that owner; and

• your physical or electronic signature. Upon receiving your complaint, we may remove content that you believe infringes your copyright. In addition, we may terminate the account of the registered user responsible for posting or transmitting the infringing material.

Third Party Content and Services

GRI is not responsible for your use of third-party services.  Linked websites not operated by GRI are not under the control of GRI, and GRI is not responsible for the accuracy or content of such websites.  GRI makes no representation concerning the terms of use, privacy policies or content of these sites to you.  If you decide to access linked third party websites, you do so at your own risk.

User Generated Content

GRI allows you to post information and content.  “Content” is anything subject to copyright protection (a work of authorship), such as a photo, video, song or text comment and all other forms of data or communication including the information you contribute to your Specialist profile.  Content includes (i) works you create and own that you submit or transmit through the Site (“Your Content”) and (ii) works created and owned by someone else that you submit or transmit through the Site (“Third Party Content”).       

You retain ownership rights to your information and Your Content and, for Third Party Content, any ownership rights to which you are entitled by law.  We do not claim any ownership rights to any Content posted to or transmitted by you through a GRI Service. 

You alone are responsible for the Content you post. You assume all risks associated with the Content you post, including anyone’s reliance on its quality or accuracy and any risks associated with your choice to disclose personal information on the Site. We discourage you from disclosing personal information on the Site. You represent that you own or have the necessary permissions to use and authorize the use of the Content you post.

For Your Content, you grant to GRI a perpetual, royalty-free, irrevocable right and license to display, perform, reproduce, adapt, and distribute such Content, and to incorporate such Content into any form, medium, or technology now known or later developed.  Other users may copy and then alter your Content.  For this reason, you waive any claims against GRI, and hold GRI harmless, for any unauthorized alteration of your Content, including without limitation claims arising under the laws of countries other than the United States for derogation of “moral rights”.

For Third-Party Content, you grant to GRI, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant to GRI, or that the owner of the rights has granted to GRI, a license on the same terms as for your own Content. If attribution of Third-Party Content is required, you will attribute it correctly. 

Representations and Indemnification

You represent that the user and account information you provide is true, current, and complete. You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless GRI and its officers, directors, employees, and affiliates from and against any and all claims, damages, costs, and expenses (collectively “Claims”) arising from or related in any way to your misuse of any GRI Site, or your breach of your representations, or your breach of any material provision of these Terms.

Disclaimer of Warranties

GRI strives to provide the Site in accordance with the highest industry standards for accuracy, reliability, and security. However, due to the nature of the Site:

• Your use of the Site is at your sole risk. The Site is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. GRI expressly disclaims all warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including, but not limited to implied warranties of fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability, non-infringement, quality, performance, non-interference with information, and accuracy of informational content. There is no warranty that information provided by the Site will fulfill any of your particular purposes or needs.

• GRI does not guarantee or warrant that your use of the Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free; that the results that may be obtained from the use of the Service will be accurate or reliable; that any errors in the technology will be corrected; or that the quality of any products, services, information, or other material purchased or obtained by you through or at the suggestion of the Service will meet your expectations.

• No information, whether oral or written, obtained by you from GRI or through a GRI Service will create any warranty not expressly stated in these Terms.

Limitations and Exclusions of Liability

To the extent permitted by applicable law, GRI will not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages, including without limitation, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses, or the cost of getting substitute goods or services, or the use, inability to use, unauthorized use, performance or non-performance of any third-party account (even if GRI has been advised of the possibility of such damages), whether based on contract, tort or any other legal theory, resulting from your use of or inability to use the Site. If you are dissatisfied with the GRI Site, or any of the information contained therein, or if you refuse to abide by these Terms, your sole and exclusive remedy is to discontinue your use.  If you are a California resident, you waive the provisions of Section 1542 of the California Civil Code, which states as follows: ”A general release does not extend to claims which the creditor does not know or suspect to exist in his favor at the time of executing the release, which if known by him must have materially affected his settlement with the debtor, and any other municipal, local, state, or federal law, common or statutory, which may have arisen, or which may arise, prior to, or at the time of, the execution of this Agreement.”

Disputes and Arbitration

Binding Individual Arbitration 

Any Dispute arising out of or relating to your purchases from us or this Agreement, whether based in contract, tort, statute, fraud, misrepresentation, or any other legal theory, will be resolved through binding individual arbitration as set forth in this Section, except (a) either you or GRI may initiate a Dispute that is within the jurisdictional limits in, or take such a Dispute to, small claims court, and (b) as stated below. 

“Dispute” means any claim or controversy arising out of or relating to this Agreement, whether based in contract, tort, statute, fraud, misrepresentation, or any other legal theory, and also includes: (a) any related Dispute that arose before the existence of this Agreement; (b) any related Dispute that is currently the subject of a purported class action litigation in which you are not a member of a certified class; and (c) any related Dispute that may arise after termination of this Agreement and our relationship with you. The term “Dispute” excludes disagreements or claims concerning patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, or other intellectual property, and claims of piracy or unauthorized use of intellectual property.

The arbitrator will decide all issues except the following (which are for a court of competent jurisdiction): (a) issues expressly reserved for the court by this Agreement; (b) issues that relate to the scope, validity, and enforceability of this arbitration agreement, the class action waiver, or any of the provisions of this Section; and (c) issues that relate to the arbitrability of any Dispute. Such court will also have the limited and non-exclusive authority to decide if a Dispute is time-barred. This Agreement does not prevent you from bringing a Dispute to the attention of any government agency. This Agreement to arbitrate concerns transactions in interstate commerce and will be interpreted and enforced in accordance with the Federal Arbitration Act and U.S. federal arbitration law, and not state arbitration law.

Mandatory Informal Dispute Resolution Process.

A good faith effort to informally resolve any Dispute is required. The party initiating the Dispute must send a written notice to the other party that describes the Dispute, with sufficient information to enable the other party to identify any transactions and accounts at issue, and a description of the Dispute, addressing the nature and basis of the claims and of the relief sought. The party initiating the Dispute will send this notice, including all of the information referenced above, to the other party in writing. 

For a period of thirty (30) days from receipt of a completed notice, the parties will negotiate in good faith in an effort to informally resolve the Dispute. If the Dispute is not resolved within thirty (30) days after receipt of notice, you or GRI may commence formal resolution of the Dispute. Completion of the informal Dispute resolution process is a condition precedent to you or GRI commencing any formal Dispute resolution proceeding in arbitration or small claims court, and any applicable limitations periods will be tolled from the date of receipt of notice through the conclusion of the process. A court of competent jurisdiction will have the authority to enforce this condition precedent to arbitration. Nothing in this section limits the right of a party to raise the sufficiency of a notice or compliance with this process or to seek damages for non-compliance with this process in arbitration. 

Arbitration Procedures

The arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) and conducted in accordance with the applicable AAA rules (“AAA Rules”) as modified by this arbitration agreement. If the AAA is unavailable or unwilling to administer arbitrations consistent with this arbitration agreement, another arbitration provider will be selected by the parties that will administer arbitrations consistent with this arbitration agreement. If the parties cannot agree on a provider, they will petition a court of competent jurisdiction to appoint an arbitration provider that will do so.

Initiating Arbitration

The party seeking to initiate arbitration will provide the other party with the demand for arbitration as specified in the AAA Rules and this arbitration agreement. The party initiating arbitration will personally certify to the AAA that they are a party to this arbitration provision, and provide a copy or link to it. To begin an arbitration proceeding, you or GRI must send a personally signed demand for arbitration that describes (a) the nature and basis of the claims, and (b) the nature and basis of the relief sought, including a detailed calculation for such relief. The demand for arbitration must be personally signed by the party initiating arbitration (and their counsel, if represented). By signing the demand for arbitration, a party (and their counsel, if represented) certifies that they have complied with all of the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(b), including that the claims and relief sought are neither frivolous nor brought for an improper purpose. The arbitrator is authorized to award any relief or impose any sanctions available under the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure, or applicable federal or state law, against all represented parties and counsel. The party initiating arbitration must follow the appropriate procedures with the AAA to commence the arbitration, which are available at www.adr.org or by contacting the AAA.

Conduct of Arbitration 

The arbitration will be heard by a single, neutral arbitrator. The party initiating arbitration may choose to have the arbitration conducted by phone, video-conference, or in-person hearing, or solely through written submissions, except that the respondent in any arbitration where the claimant is seeking $10,000 or more, or injunctive relief, may elect an in-person hearing. You and a GRI representative will personally appear at any hearing (with counsel, if represented). Any in-person hearing will be held in the county or parish in which you reside or at another mutually convenient location. An arbitrator may award on an individual basis any relief that would be available in a court, including injunctive or declaratory relief, but only in favor of the individual party seeking relief, and only to the extent necessary to provide relief warranted by that party’s individual claim. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you and we agree that each may bring claims against the other only in an individual capacity and not as a member in any purported class, collective, consolidated, private attorney general, or representative proceeding. Further, unless both you and we agree otherwise, an arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person’s claims and may not otherwise preside over any form of class, collective, consolidated, private attorney general, or representative proceeding.

The arbitrator is empowered to follow and enforce this Agreement. If, after exhaustion of all appeals, any of the prohibitions on non-individualized injunctive or declaratory relief and class, collective, consolidated, private attorney general, or representative proceedings are held unenforceable with respect to a particular claim or request for relief (such as a request for public injunctive relief), then such a claim or request for relief will be decided by a court of competent jurisdiction, after all other claims and requests for relief are arbitrated.

The arbitrator will issue a written decision sufficient to explain the essential findings and conclusions. After entry of an award, the arbitrator will apply the cost-shifting provisions of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 68. Judgment on any arbitration award may be entered in a court of competent jurisdiction, except an award that has been fully satisfied may not be entered. 

Arbitration Costs

Payment of all filing, administration and arbitrator fees will be governed by the AAA Rules. The parties have a shared interest in reducing the costs associated with arbitration. The parties will work together in good faith to ensure that arbitration remains cost-effective. The parties will be responsible for their own attorneys’ fees and costs in arbitration, unless they are authorized by law or the arbitrator determines that a claim was frivolous or brought for an improper purpose.

Procedures for Mass Arbitrations 

These Procedures for Mass Arbitrations (in addition to the other provisions of this arbitration agreement and the applicable AAA Rules) will apply if twenty-five (25) or more similar Disputes (including yours) are asserted against GRI by the same or coordinated counsel or are otherwise coordinated (“Mass Arbitration”). They are designed to lead to the streamlined and cost-effective resolution of claims, ensure that large volume filings do not impose unnecessary burdens or impediments to the resolution and cost-effective adjudication of similar claims, and preserve the integrity of the arbitration process. If you bring your Dispute as a part of a Mass Arbitration, the resolution of your Dispute might be delayed and it might ultimately proceed in court and not in arbitration. The parties will meet and confer in good faith in an effort to resolve any Disputes, streamline procedures, address the exchange of information, modify the number of Disputes to be adjudicated, and conserve the parties’ and the AAA’s resources.

If you choose to bring your Dispute as part of a Mass Arbitration, any applicable limitations periods (including statutes of limitations) will be tolled for your Dispute from the time that your Dispute is first submitted to the AAA until your Dispute is selected to proceed as part of a staged process or is settled, withdrawn, otherwise resolved, or opted out of arbitration pursuant to this provision.

STAGE ONE: If at least one hundred (100) Disputes are submitted as part of the Mass Arbitration, counsel for the claimants and counsel for GRI will each select 50 Disputes to be filed and to proceed as cases in individual arbitrations as part of this initial staged process.

The number of Disputes to be selected to proceed in Stage One may be increased by agreement of counsel for the parties (and if there are fewer than 100 Disputes, all will proceed individually in Stage One). Each of the 100 (or fewer) cases will be assigned to a different arbitrator and proceed individually. If a case is withdrawn before the issuance of an arbitration award, another claim will be selected to proceed as part of Stage One. The remaining Disputes will not be filed or deemed filed in arbitration, and no arbitration fees will be assessed or collected in connection with those claims. After this initial set of proceedings, counsel for the parties will participate in a global mediation session with a professional neutral mediator, jointly selected by the parties, in an effort to resolve the remaining Disputes, and GRI will pay the mediator’s fee.

STAGE TWO: If the remaining Disputes have not been resolved at the conclusion of Stage One, counsel for the claimants and counsel for GRI will each select 100 Disputes per side to be filed and to proceed as cases in individual arbitrations as part of a second staged process.

The number of Disputes to be selected to proceed as part of this second staged process can be increased by agreement of counsel for the parties (and if there are fewer than 200 Disputes, all will proceed individually in Stage Two). No more than five cases may be assigned to a single arbitrator to proceed individually. If a case is withdrawn before the issuance of an arbitration award, another claim will be selected to proceed as part of Stage Two. The remaining Disputes will not be filed or deemed filed in arbitration, and no arbitration fees will be assessed or collected in connection with those claims. After this second set of staged proceedings, the parties will engage in a global mediation session of all remaining Disputes with a professional neutral mediator, jointly selected by the parties, in an effort to resolve the remaining Disputes, and GRI will pay the mediator’s fee.

Upon the completion of the mediation set forth in Stage Two (and assuming the parties do not jointly agree to continue engagement through further mediation or otherwise), each remaining Dispute (if any) that is not settled or not withdrawn will be opted out of arbitration and may proceed in a court of competent jurisdiction, consistent with the remainder of the Terms. However, the parties may mutually agree in writing to proceed with the adjudication of some or all of the remaining Disputes in individual arbitrations consistent with the process set forth in Stage Two (except that Disputes will be randomly selected and mediation will be elective by agreement) or through another mutually agreeable process. A court of competent jurisdiction will have the authority to enforce the Procedures for Mass Arbitrations, including the power to enjoin the filing or prosecution of arbitrations and the assessment or collection of arbitration fees. The Procedures for Mass Arbitrations and each of its requirements are essential parts of this arbitration agreement. If, after exhaustion of all appeals, a court of competent jurisdiction decides that the Procedures for Mass Arbitrations apply to your Dispute and are not enforceable, then your Dispute will not proceed in arbitration and will only proceed in a court of competent jurisdiction consistent with the remainder of the Terms.

Class Action & Jury Trial Waivers

Any proceeding, whether in arbitration or in court, will be conducted only on an individual basis and not in a class, collective, consolidated, private attorney general, or representative action. You waive any right to bring or to participate in such an action in arbitration or in court to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you and GRI waive the right to a jury trial.

General Terms

Entire Agreement  

These Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and us with respect to their subject matter.  GRI or its affiliates may offer other sites and services with different terms.  In the event of any conflict between these Terms and another written agreement between you and GRI, these Terms will be controlling as to your use of the Service.

Severability

If any provision of these Terms is deemed unlawful, void, voidable or unenforceable for any reason, then that provision will be deemed severable from these Terms and will not affect the validity or enforceability of any remaining provisions.

Governing Law and Venue

These Terms will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Idaho, without giving effect to its rules respecting the conflicts of laws. This contract is deemed made and fully performable in Kootenai County, Idaho.

© 2019-2024 Grief Recovery Institute Inc. All rights reserved.