Terms of Use

Who these terms are between

These terms are between you and SIG National, LLC, a Louisiana limited liability company ("SPARK Partners", "we", "us"). They apply to the SPARK Partners website and to the Partner portal at the same address. By using either, you agree to them. If you are using the portal on behalf of a self-insured group, trust, or firm, you confirm you are authorized to accept these terms for that organization.

What SPARK Partners is, and is not

SIG National, LLC, doing business as SPARK Partners, is a professional community for the people who administer self-insured groups. It is not an insurer, an insurance company, a risk-retention group, or a pool, and it does not underwrite, issue, or assume risk of any kind.

It does not sell, solicit, negotiate, place, or service insurance or coverage, and it is not an insurance producer, agent, broker, adjuster, or third-party administrator. It holds no insurance license in any state and does not act in any capacity that requires one.

It does not provide actuarial, legal, accounting, tax, underwriting, or claims-handling services, and nothing on this site or in the Partner portal is advice of that kind.

Partnership accounts

Portal accounts are issued by SPARK Partners after an application is reviewed. Accounts are personal to the individual named on them and may not be shared, transferred, or used by anyone else — including a colleague at the same organization, who is welcome to apply for their own.

You are responsible for keeping your password and any connected sign-in provider secure, and for telling us promptly if you believe someone else has access to your account.

We may suspend or close an account that breaches these terms, and we may close an account whose holder has left the role that qualified them for partnership.

Partner discussions are confidential

The discussions in the Partner portal exist so that administrators, successors, third-party administrators, and trustees can talk candidly about problems they are working through. That only works if the room is closed.

Do not republish, forward, quote publicly, or otherwise disclose what another Partner writes in the portal without that Partner's permission. Do not use the Partner directory or discussion content to build a marketing list or to contact Partners with unsolicited offers.

Providers and specialists have a separate space and cannot see the Partners' discussions. Nothing in these terms grants any account access to a discussion its holder cannot already see.

Nothing here is professional advice

Content on this website and in the portal — including discussion posts, resources, recorded sessions, and responses from other Partners — is shared for general information among peers. It is not legal, actuarial, accounting, tax, underwriting, or regulatory advice, and it is not a substitute for the opinion of your own counsel, actuary, or auditor.

Partners contributing to discussions are describing their own experience. SPARK Partners does not verify, endorse, or take responsibility for what any Partner posts.

Certificates and designations

Certificates and designations awarded through the SPARK Partners Academy are conferred by SIG National, LLC alone. They are not a state license, a government credential, or a qualification to practice, and they do not by themselves constitute approved continuing-education credit toward any insurance, adjuster, legal, or accounting license. Where a state regulator has separately approved a course for credit, that approval is stated on the course itself.

A designation is held subject to the standing shown on its verification page. We may withdraw one where it was awarded in error, where the work behind it was not the holder's own, or where the holder's conduct in the portal breaches these terms. Withdrawal is recorded against the verification code, so a certificate presented after withdrawal can be checked and will say so.

Providers and sponsors

SPARK Partners lists vetted providers and sponsors as a service to Partners. Listing means a provider has been reviewed and, in most cases, referred by a Partner. It is not a warranty of their services, an endorsement of any contract you may enter into with them, or a recommendation to select them.

Any engagement you enter into with a provider or sponsor is between you and them.

What you post

You keep ownership of what you post. By posting, you grant SPARK Partners permission to display it within the portal to the Partners entitled to see it, and to keep it as part of the discussion record.

Do not post anything you do not have the right to share — including material subject to a confidentiality obligation, protected health information, or personally identifiable claimant data. Redact before you post.

We may remove content that breaches these terms.

Acceptable use

Do not attempt to access accounts, data, or areas of the portal you have not been given access to; do not probe, scan, or test the security of the site except with our written permission; do not scrape or bulk-extract the directory or discussions; and do not use the site to distribute malware or to send unsolicited commercial messages.

Availability

We aim to keep the site and portal available, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted access. We may change, suspend, or withdraw any part of it, and we may schedule maintenance without notice.

Copyright complaints

If you believe something posted in the portal infringes your copyright, write to john@sig-national.com identifying the material, where it appears, and your basis for the claim. We will look into it and remove material where the claim is made out.

No warranties

The website and portal are provided as they are and as they are available. To the fullest extent permitted by law we make no warranties of any kind, express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.

In particular we do not warrant that content posted by Partners is accurate, current, or suited to your group's circumstances. It is shared among peers describing their own experience, and your group's facts and your state's rules are what govern.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, SIG National, LLC is not liable for indirect, incidental, special, punitive, or consequential losses arising from your use of the website or portal, or from decisions made in reliance on content shared by Partners. This includes lost profits, lost savings, and losses arising from a group's funding, reserving, coverage, or claims decisions.

Where liability cannot be excluded, our total liability for all claims arising out of or relating to these terms is limited to the greater of the amount you paid SPARK Partners in the twelve months before the claim arose, or one hundred dollars.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless SIG National, LLC and its members, managers, officers, and agents against any claim, loss, or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising from what you post, from your use of the portal, or from your breach of these terms.

Governing law and where disputes are heard

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Louisiana, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. You and SIG National, LLC agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to these terms or your use of the website or portal will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Louisiana, and each of us consents to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. Material changes will be reflected here with a new effective date, and where the change affects Partners meaningfully we will say so in the portal.

General

If any part of these terms is held unenforceable, the rest continues to apply and the unenforceable part is read as narrowly as it needs to be to become enforceable.

These terms, together with the Privacy Policy, are the whole of the agreement between you and SIG National, LLC about the website and portal. You may not assign them; we may assign them to a successor to the business.

A delay in enforcing any part of these terms is not a waiver of it.

How to reach us

SIG National, LLC
Houma, Louisiana
john@sig-national.com

Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle the information you give us.