What is the responsibility on Upwork? Is there a danger of running into claims for damages?

Question

Upwork

Good afternoon.
Tell me please. Upwork has a User Agreement, which seems to spell out quite a lot of responsibility as a freelancer. It directly says: "You are obliged to compensate for all damage in cases of ...." Here is the text:

spoiler

19. INDEMNIFICATION
You will indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Upwork, our Affiliates, and our respective directors, officers, employees, representatives, and agents (each an “Indemnified Party”) from any and all claims, damages, liabilities, costs, losses, and expenses (including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys’ fees and all related costs and expenses) arising from or relating to any claim, suit, proceeding, demand, or action brought by you or a third party or other User against an Indemnified Party relating to: (a) use of the Site and the Site Services by you or your agents, including any payment obligations incurred through use of the Site Services; (b) any Service Contract entered into by you or your agents, including, but not limited to, the classification of a Freelancer as an independent contractor; the classification of Upwork as an employer or joint employer of Freelancer; any employment-related claims, such as those relating to employment termination, employment discrimination, harassment, or retaliation; and any claims for unpaid wages or other compensation, overtime pay, sick leave, holiday or vacation pay, retirement benefits, worker’s compensation benefits, unemployment benefits, or any other employee benefits; (c) failure to comply with the Terms of Service by you or your agents; (d) failure to comply with applicable law by you or your agents; (e) negligence, willful misconduct, or fraud by you or your agents; and (f) defamation, libel, violation of privacy rights, unfair competition, or infringement of Intellectual Property Rights or allegations thereof to the extent caused by you or your agents.

Since there are quite a few Russian sole proprietors on Upwork (who are liable with all their property), how dangerous is it to work for Upwork from this point of view? Can’t a situation arise (at least theoretically) when the customer accuses the freelancer of damages and puts up huge claims? Is it possible to somehow protect yourself from such problems, and is it necessary at all? Maybe you need to somehow negotiate with the customer?

Answer 1

maybe it will demand, but again, it’s unlikely to sue from abroad, but it’s a
garbage question, because there’s nothing for adequate people to think about, there’s no point in considering any exceptions, it’s like thinking every day what will happen if a brick falls on your head

Answer 2

Suing a Russian court from abroad is an extremely dreary and costly business, so if your contracts do not amount to hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars, it is unlikely that anyone will bother so much.
It is a completely different matter that the customer can sue money from Upwork, or even stupidly make a refund through the bank. In this situation, Upwork simply passes all the costs on to the freelancer. Just such a case is described https://m.pikabu.ru/story/kak_ya_popal_na_50_tyisy...

Answer 3

the risks are minimal.

Answer 4

As I understand it, the responsibility of an individual entrepreneur does not differ much from that of an individual. The most obvious difference is that the tax authorities can take money from an individual entrepreneur's account without a trial. Well, if an individual entrepreneur did something with a defect and it caused an indirect loss, then it is potentially easier for the client to attract him (under the account / agreement / payment with his name). But I'm not a lawyer, maybe someone has something to add.
By the way, Upwork's offer contains a luxurious clause in this regard:
Upon Freelancer's receipt of full payment from Client, the Work Product, including without limitation all Intellectual Property Rights in the Work Product, will be the sole and exclusive property of Client, and Client will be considered to be the author thereof.
That is, as I understand it, the client will have a very weak position in court when proving the damage caused by the intangible product delivered to him if he has already agreed to consider himself its author (even if the court does not recognize the copyright itself). In general, the main thing on Upwork is not to mess up before you get paid, then you can already sleep more peacefully.
PS I remembered one more difference in physical. persons from IP. Phys. a person a member of an LLC is not liable for commercial loans. And the IP is responsible in this case with personal property. Apparently, the loss of goods received for sale is also considered an unreturned loan, which is why the historically notorious IP has arisen.

Answer 5

In my opinion, damage can only be caused if you break the project on a live server, so the advice is to always make backups before starting work. And it is desirable to work on a local/test server.

Answer 6

Doesn't Upwork have standard replies like "we are not responsible for anything, but if the legislation of your country forces us to answer anyway, then the liability is limited to the amount of $ 100"?