Terms of Service
These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of the FOIA Experts website and your purchase or use of services provided under the FOIA Experts trade name ("FOIA Experts," "we," "us," or "our").
By purchasing a service, accepting a quote or Statement of Work, submitting a request for us to handle, or otherwise engaging FOIA Experts, you agree to these Terms.
Terms of Service
Last Updated: September 8, 2026
About FOIA Experts
FOIA Experts is an independent California business providing public-records request, research, request-management, and related intelligence services.
Depending on the engagement, our services may include identifying the appropriate government agency or records custodian, preparing and submitting public-records requests, communicating with agencies, tracking and following up on requests, obtaining and organizing responsive records, conducting public-source research, and preparing research or intelligence deliverables.
FOIA Experts is a private business. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of any government agency.
FOIA Experts as Requester
For our standard public-records services, FOIA Experts submits public-records requests in its own name using FOIA Experts business contact information.
We do not identify the underlying client to the records agency as part of the ordinary public-records request process.
This is a confidentiality practice. It does not mean that the subject matter of a request is secret, anonymous in every possible sense, or incapable of being associated with a person or organization through information outside FOIA Experts’ control.
Public-records requests, agency correspondence, and related records may themselves become government records and may be retained, logged, or disclosed by the receiving agency.
If an agency, law, portal, or other applicable process requires disclosure of the underlying client’s identity as a condition of proceeding, FOIA Experts will not disclose the client for purposes of continuing the standard engagement. We may instead discontinue the affected matter and apply the applicable refund provisions below.
Scope of Services
The scope of our services depends on the service purchased or the written scope agreed for the engagement.
For ordinary transactional records requests, the service generally includes request preparation, verified agency routing, submission, tracking, routine agency correspondence and follow-up, basic administrative review of the agency’s response or production, and organized electronic delivery of the final agency production or result.
Custom research, competitive-intelligence work, managed research, and other professional engagements may be governed by a separate quote, proposal, Statement of Work, or written scope.
If an accepted quote or Statement of Work conflicts with these Terms concerning the specific scope, price, payment schedule, deliverable, government-fee threshold, or other engagement-specific terms, the accepted written scope controls for that engagement.
Material additions to a project, including additional procurements, agencies, competitors, comparator sets, or materially different research questions, may require an amended or separate quote.
FOIA Experts will not charge additional professional fees for materially expanded work without customer authorization.
No Guarantee of Records, Timing, or Outcome
Government agencies control whether responsive records exist, where they are maintained, how they are searched for, whether exemptions or restrictions apply, how requests are processed, how quickly records are produced, and what government fees may be assessed.
FOIA Experts therefore does not guarantee:
That requested records exist.
That an agency will locate or release any particular record.
That records will be complete or unredacted.
That an agency will respond or produce records by a particular date.
That an agency will accept a particular request formulation or interpretation of law.
That an agency will agree with a request for fee treatment, expedited treatment, waiver, narrowing, appeal, or other procedural position.
That a records request or research engagement will produce information supporting the customer’s expectations, theory, claim, or desired conclusion.
That research or intelligence concerning a past procurement will predict the result of any future procurement.
Our obligation is to perform the agreed services professionally. It is not to guarantee a particular agency response, production, research result, legal conclusion, business outcome, or competitive outcome.
No Legal Advice
FOIA Experts is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice, legal representation, or legal opinions.
Our services may involve identifying public-records laws, agency procedures, exemptions asserted by agencies, administrative processes, deadlines, or potential procedural options as part of managing a request. Such information is provided in connection with our research and administrative services and is not a substitute for advice from qualified legal counsel.
FOIA Experts does not provide litigation representation, bid-protest representation, proposal writing, or other legal services unless separately and expressly provided through an appropriate professional arrangement.
Customers should consult qualified legal counsel when legal advice is required.
Customer Responsibilities
You agree to provide information reasonably necessary for FOIA Experts to perform the services and to ensure that information you provide is accurate to the best of your knowledge.
You agree not to use FOIA Experts or any records, research, analysis, or deliverables obtained through FOIA Experts to:
Violate applicable law.
Fraudulently impersonate another person or entity.
Obtain information through false statements or unlawful means.
Circumvent lawful restrictions on access to information.
Harass, threaten, stalk, intimidate, or unlawfully discriminate against another person.
Infringe another person’s intellectual-property, privacy, confidentiality, contractual, or other legal rights.
Facilitate fraud, unlawful surveillance, identity theft, or other unlawful activity.
FOIA Experts may decline, suspend, or discontinue a matter that we reasonably believe cannot lawfully or appropriately be performed.
Client-Provided Information and Materials
You represent that you have the right to provide FOIA Experts with documents, data, proposals, correspondence, identifiers, instructions, and other materials you submit to us and that our use of those materials for the engagement will not violate applicable law or the rights of another party.
You retain your rights in materials you provide to us.
You authorize FOIA Experts to use those materials as reasonably necessary to perform, administer, document, and deliver the services you requested.
Private client-provided materials remain subject to our confidentiality practices and Privacy Policy.
Confidentiality
FOIA Experts treats client identity, research objectives, request history, private client materials, communications, instructions, and client-specific work product as confidential client information.
We do not sell client identities, confidential research objectives, request histories, private client materials, communications, or client-specific reports and analysis as another customer’s research product.
Our collection, use, handling, and disclosure of client information are further described in the FOIA Experts Privacy Policy.
Public Records and Public-Source Information
Government records lawfully obtained through an engagement do not become exclusive to the customer merely because that customer’s engagement caused FOIA Experts to obtain them.
FOIA Experts may retain, organize, index, analyze, and reuse lawfully obtained public records and other public-source evidence in later research, internal knowledge systems, or customer engagements where appropriate and lawful.
FOIA Experts may also retain and develop non-client-specific institutional knowledge, including information concerning agency procedures, public portals, routing, timing, processing practices, fees, exemptions, procurement metadata, record availability, and request methods.
This does not authorize FOIA Experts to disclose which client originally caused us to obtain a record, that client’s confidential research objective, request history, private communications, private materials, or client-specific report or analysis.
If multiple customers independently request research concerning the same public matter, procurement, or government records, FOIA Experts may use the same public-source evidence, factual extraction, research methods, and independently supportable findings. Each client-specific research engagement will nevertheless be separately scoped and prepared for that customer.
Fees and Payment
Service fees are due according to the price, checkout terms, invoice, quote, Statement of Work, or account terms applicable to the engagement.
For ordinary transactional requests, successful payment generally authorizes FOIA Experts to begin preparing and submitting the request.
For quoted professional engagements, work begins after the applicable written scope has been accepted and any required initial payment or approved account terms have been satisfied.
Payment authorizes work. Payment does not mean the engagement has been completed.
A matter is completed when FOIA Experts has performed the agreed service and delivered the final records, agency result, report, intelligence brief, or other agreed deliverable, subject to any remaining agreed obligations.
Government and Third-Party Fees
FOIA Experts service and professional fees generally do not include fees charged by government agencies for searching, reviewing, copying, duplication, production, mailing, or otherwise processing records unless expressly stated otherwise.
Government-assessed fees are separate from FOIA Experts service fees.
Where an engagement includes a government-fee authorization threshold, FOIA Experts will not knowingly authorize government fees above that threshold without customer approval unless the engagement expressly provides otherwise.
Customer-authorized third-party expenses may also be charged separately where disclosed and agreed.
Cancellations and Refunds
Because FOIA Experts provides professional services and may begin work shortly after payment or authorization, service and professional fees are generally not refundable after substantive work has begun except as expressly stated in these Terms, an applicable written engagement, or applicable law.
If FOIA Experts determines that a standard engagement cannot proceed because an agency, law, portal, or applicable process requires disclosure of the underlying client’s identity, FOIA Experts will not disclose the client for purposes of continuing the standard engagement.
In that circumstance, FOIA Experts may cancel the affected engagement and refund the FOIA Experts service or professional fee for that engagement.
Government-assessed fees or other third-party charges already incurred or irrevocably committed, if any, remain separately accounted for and may not be refundable.
If a customer asks FOIA Experts to cancel an engagement after work has begun, FOIA Experts may retain amounts reasonably attributable to services already performed and authorized costs already incurred, subject to the applicable written engagement and applicable law.
Client Deliverables and Intellectual Property
Client-provided materials remain the property of their respective owners.
Government records, public-source documents, and third-party materials remain subject to whatever rights apply to those materials and do not become proprietary FOIA Experts materials merely because they are included in a deliverable.
FOIA Experts retains ownership of its general methodologies, templates, document architecture, research techniques, processes, workflows, know-how, internal knowledge systems, agency knowledge, and other preexisting or reusable intellectual property.
Upon payment of all amounts due, the customer may use the client-specific deliverable prepared for that customer for the customer’s own lawful business, professional, research, journalistic, investigative, or personal purposes.
Nothing in an engagement transfers ownership of FOIA Experts’ general methodologies, reusable templates, systems, processes, or underlying know-how.
Use of Research and Deliverables
FOIA Experts provides records, information, research, and analysis.
Customers remain responsible for decisions made using those materials, including legal, litigation, bidding, proposal, business-development, investment, journalistic, employment, purchasing, strategic, or other decisions.
A Post-Award Intelligence Brief, public-records production, research result, or other deliverable is not a guarantee of a future procurement result or any other business outcome.
Where FOIA Experts provides analysis, the analysis is based on the records and information available within the scope of the engagement at the time the work is performed.
Third-Party Services
FOIA Experts may use third-party service providers for website hosting, forms, payment processing, communications, file storage, business administration, and similar operational functions.
Our Privacy Policy describes our handling of information involving service providers.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, FOIA Experts is not responsible for interruptions, outages, processing delays, security incidents, failures, or other acts or omissions of independent third-party services outside our reasonable control.
Disclaimer of Warranties
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE FOIA EXPERTS WEBSITE, SERVICES, RESEARCH, RECORDS, INFORMATION, AND DELIVERABLES ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS EXCEPT FOR EXPRESS OBLIGATIONS STATED IN THESE TERMS OR AN APPLICABLE WRITTEN ENGAGEMENT.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, FOIA EXPERTS DISCLAIMS WARRANTIES NOT EXPRESSLY PROVIDED, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.
Government records and other third-party information may contain errors, omissions, inconsistencies, or outdated information. FOIA Experts does not warrant the independent accuracy or completeness of information created or maintained by a government agency or other third party.
Nothing in this section limits rights or warranties that cannot lawfully be excluded.
Limitation of Liability
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, FOIA EXPERTS AND ITS OWNER WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, LOST REVENUE, LOST BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES, LOST DATA, REPUTATIONAL HARM, OR SIMILAR LOSSES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE WEBSITE, SERVICES, GOVERNMENT AGENCY ACTIONS OR OMISSIONS, PUBLIC RECORDS, RESEARCH, OR CLIENT DELIVERABLES.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF FOIA EXPERTS AND ITS OWNER ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO A PARTICULAR ENGAGEMENT WILL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT OF SERVICE OR PROFESSIONAL FEES ACTUALLY PAID TO FOIA EXPERTS FOR THAT ENGAGEMENT.
The limitations in this section apply regardless of the form of action, whether based in contract, tort, negligence, statute, or another theory of liability, to the extent permitted by law.
Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.
Indemnification
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless FOIA Experts, its owner, employees, contractors, agents, representatives, successors, and assigns from and against third-party claims, demands, actions, proceedings, damages, judgments, liabilities, losses, penalties, fines, costs, and reasonable attorneys’ fees arising out of or relating to:
· Your unlawful or unauthorized use of FOIA Experts’ services or any records, information, research, or deliverables obtained through the services.
· Information, instructions, documents, data, or other materials you provide to FOIA Experts.
· Your breach of these Terms or an applicable engagement agreement.
· Your infringement or violation of another person’s intellectual-property, privacy, confidentiality, contractual, or other legal rights.
· An action FOIA Experts takes at your specific direction where FOIA Experts reasonably relied on your representation that the requested action was lawful and authorized.
This indemnification obligation does not apply to the extent a claim results from FOIA Experts’ gross negligence, willful misconduct, or other liability that cannot lawfully be shifted to the customer.
Events Outside Our Control
FOIA Experts is not responsible for delay or failure caused by circumstances reasonably outside our control, including government closures, government staffing shortages or backlogs, agency system or portal outages, legal holds, litigation affecting access to records, changes in law or agency procedure, natural disasters, emergencies, telecommunications or internet failures, third-party platform or service interruptions, labor disruptions, or similar events outside FOIA Experts’ reasonable control.
FOIA Experts will continue to manage affected engagements in accordance with the agreed service to the extent reasonably possible.
Suspension or Termination
FOIA Experts may suspend, decline, or terminate an engagement if:
· Required payment is not made.
· Information reasonably necessary to perform the engagement is not provided.
· The requested activity appears unlawful or unauthorized.
· Continuing the engagement would require disclosure of the underlying client contrary to the standard requester model.
· The customer materially breaches these Terms or an applicable engagement agreement.
· Continued performance would create an unreasonable legal, security, ethical, or operational risk.
Termination does not eliminate obligations to pay for services already performed or authorized costs already incurred, except where these Terms or an applicable written engagement expressly provide otherwise.
Electronic Communications and Acceptance
You consent to receiving communications relating to your inquiry, purchase, payment, records request, research matter, agency activity, deliverables, and customer relationship electronically, including by email and through applicable website, payment, file-delivery, or other business systems.
You are responsible for providing current and accurate contact information.
Electronic acceptance of a quote, Statement of Work, checkout, invoice, or other engagement document may constitute acceptance of the applicable terms to the extent permitted by law.
Website Content
Content on the FOIA Experts website is provided for general informational purposes and may be changed or updated without notice.
Website content does not create an attorney-client relationship, fiduciary relationship, government relationship, or other relationship beyond the services specifically agreed between the customer and FOIA Experts.
Relationship to the Privacy Policy
Your use of FOIA Experts is also subject to the FOIA Experts Privacy Policy.
The Privacy Policy explains how FOIA Experts collects, uses, shares, retains, and handles client information, public records, public-source material, and client-specific work product.
Changes to These Terms
FOIA Experts may update these Terms as our services, operations, technology, or legal requirements change.
When material changes are made, we will update the “Last Updated” date shown above.
For a particular engagement, the version of these Terms in effect when the customer purchases or authorizes the engagement will ordinarily govern that engagement unless the parties agree otherwise or applicable law requires a different result.
Governing Law and Venue
These Terms and any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms, the FOIA Experts website, or services provided by FOIA Experts will be governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-law principles.
To the extent permitted by applicable law, any legal action or proceeding arising out of or relating to these Terms or the services must be brought in a state or federal court of competent jurisdiction located in Los Angeles County, California, and each party consents to personal jurisdiction and venue in those courts.
Nothing in this section limits any rights a consumer may have under applicable law that cannot lawfully be waived or restricted by agreement.
Severability
If any provision of these Terms is found invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permitted by law, and the remaining provisions will remain in effect.
No Waiver
A failure by FOIA Experts to enforce any provision of these Terms does not waive the right to enforce that provision or any other provision later.
Entire Agreement
These Terms, together with the FOIA Experts Privacy Policy and any applicable accepted quote, Statement of Work, invoice, order terms, or other written engagement terms, constitute the agreement concerning the applicable services.
An accepted quote, Statement of Work, or other written engagement may supplement these Terms and control with respect to engagement-specific scope, pricing, payment terms, deliverables, or other expressly stated terms.
Contact
Questions about these Terms may be directed to:
FOIA Experts
Email: contact@foiaexperts.com