PET CRYONIC STORAGE AGREEMENT
This agreement is between XXXX whose address is YYYYYYYYYYYY (hereinafter
referred to as the "Client") and the CRYONICS INSTITUTE, a Michigan non-profit
corporation, whose address is 24355 Sorrentino Court, Clinton Township, Michigan
48035 (hereinafter referred to as "CI").
This Agreement is based on the following recitals:
- The Client desires to have a pet ______ (hereinafter the "Pet") preserved by the
process known as cryonic cryopreservation, in the hope of possible treatment and revival
at some time in the future.
- CI engages in the cryopreservation of individuals after their deaths in the hope
of possible future treatment and revival. CI is also willing to apply a similar process to pets.
- The Client desires that CI cryonically store the Pet and thereafter attempt to revive, repair,
and rehabilitate the Pet, according to the terms and conditions set forth herein, and CI is willing to do so.
NOW THEREFORE, the parties hereto, for good and valuable consideration, the receipt and
adequacy of which are acknowledged herein, hereby agree that CI shall cryopreserve the Pet, and
that the Client shall make payment therefor, and that each of the parties shall perform such other
tasks as may be required in connection therewith, in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth below.
- DEFINITIONS
- The "Client" is the undersigned party to this Agreement, and shall include, for
purposes of determining the liability of the undersigned after their deaths, the undersigned's
heirs, estates and/or successors in interest.
- The "Pet" is the pet ___ whose body is the subject of cryonic cryopreservation under this
Agreement.
- "Cryonic cryopreservation" ("cryopreservation" in this agreement) is
the process whereby: After an individual's death, his/her body is cooled until the body has reached
cryogenic temperature (below −100ºC); temperature; and the body is then maintained at cryogenic temperature
until such time as the individual's revival to life, the repair of his/her body's diseases and injuries
and his/her rehabilitation into the then existing society are thought practical; and then such revival,
repair and rehabilitation are attempted.
- "Cryonic preparation" shall mean those processes used to render the Pet's body into
a state suitable for long term preservation, and which may involve some of the processes
indicated in paragraph 1c hereof.
- The "Cryopreservation Fee" is the amount set forth in section 3a hereof.
- "Cryonic treatment" includes all processes and procedures incident to cryopreservation.
- Cryopreservation is "impractical" when in CI's best good faith judgement, the
Pet's timely cryopreservation cannot be effected by CI within the economic constraints imposed
by the Cryopreservation Fee, or CI faces the significant possibility of substantial liability if
it proceeds with the Pet's cryonic storage.
- CRYOPRESERVATION BY CI
- CI shall use its best efforts to cryopreserve the Pet through storage at cryogenic temperature.
- At such time that CI determines in its good faith judgment that the Pet can be satisfactorily
revived and rehabilitated and that the Pet's revival and rehabilitation are economically practical,
CI shall use its best efforts to revive and rehabilitate the Pet.
- Notwithstanding the foregoing, CI's obligations under this Agreement shall
at all times be limited by each of the following factors:
- CI shall not be responsible for cryonically storing the Pet except at CI's facility
in Clinton Township, Michigan (or such other location at which CI possesses facilities and
equipment suitable for cryonically storing the Pet). The responsibility for transporting the
Pet's body to Clinton Township, Michigan or such other location, as indicated by CI, shall rest
with the client, and not CI. CI may, at its sole discretion, aid in such transportation, upon
payment of a reasonable fee requested by CI therefor.
- The effectiveness of a Pet's cryopreservation may depend upon the speed with which
cryopreservation of the Pet is begun after the Pet's death, and upon the feasibility of perfusing
the Pet with a cryoprotectant solution after suitable preparation. The Client acknowledges that the
Pet will be prepared and preserved by themselves or/and a veterinarian after the Pet's death, and
sent to CI in dry ice, water ice or chemical preservative. THE CLIENT ACKNOWLEDGES THAT THE PET
MAY NOT BE PREPARED OR CRYOPRESERVED IN THE MANNER PREFERRED BY CI. CLIENT UNDERSTANDS THAT THIS
MAY HAVE AN ADVERSE IMPACT ON THE POSSIBLE SUCCESS OF THE PET'S CRYOPRESERVATION. CI shall not
be responsible for any problems relating to the foregoing or resulting in whole or in part from
- the unavailability of personnel, chemicals, and equipment;
- the lack of timely notice to CI of the Pet's death, impending death or serious illness or injury; or
- the Pet's distance from Clinton Township, Michigan (or other such location at which CI possesses
facilities and equipment suitable for cryonically suspending the Pet) and the legal, technical,
and practical difficulties in transporting the Pet thereto. The Client acknowledges that CI is
a nonprofit organization with limited paid staff, and that CI's efforts in all cases depend on
the availability, and voluntary efforts, of its members.
- CI shall not be responsible for any problems relating to the Pet's cryopreservation or
relating to CI's performance of its other duties under this Agreement, arising by reason
of any federal, state, or local statutes, regulations, ordinances or governmental or judicial directives.
- CI shall not be responsible for any failure to cryonically store the Pet resulting in whole or
in part from the Client's breach of any of her duties under this Agreement, or from the failure of
cooperation of the Client's next of kin, family, physician(s), attorney, and heirs or executors, or
any medical care facility(s) treating the Pet at or near the time of the Pet's death, where such
failure makes or made impractical the timely and adequate cryonic preparation of the Pet.
- Any failure by CI to perform its obligations hereunder, which failure results
in whole or in part from the occurrence of a contingency beyond CI's reasonable
control, and which contingency makes performance hereunder by CI impractical (such
contingencies to include, without limitation, fire, strike, terrorist action, act
of nature, unanticipated disaster or shortage of materials) is excused, and CI shall
be without liability therefor.
- CI's obligations shall otherwise be limited as indicated in other sections
of this Agreement.
- All decisions to be made by CI under this Agreement shall be made by CI in its
sole judgment, and CI shall not be liable for the consequences of any such decisions
made in good faith, whether or not negligent.
- PAYMENT
- The Client shall pay to CI a cryopreservation Fee in the sum of $__________________________ in
consideration of CI's efforts to cryonically store the Pet hereunder. The full amount of the
Cryopreservation Fee shall be paid to CI at or before the time the Pet is delivered to CI. The
full amount of the Cryopreservation Fee shall be nonrefundable.
- CI and the Client agree:
- The funds received by CI in payment for the Cryopreservation Fee shall not be segregated from the
general accounts of CI;
- The funds available for the Pet's continuing cryonic storage shall not depend upon the Client's
specific payments to CI (as long as the full amount of the storage fee is paid), except that, in the
event of any shortage of funds believed to be adequate to suspend, revive, repair and rehabilitate its
patients, CI shall use its funds, as a first priority, to benefit its human patients; and
- This Agreement is not, and shall bear none of the incidents of, a trust. Neither the Client nor any of
their heirs, successors, assigns, estates or agents shall possess any equitable interest in the Cryopreservation
Fee after the payment thereof to CI, or in any of the proceeds of CI's investment thereof, and CI shall owe
no fiduciary duty to the Client, or to their heirs, successors, assigns, estates or agents, in respect of this Agreement.
- The Client's full and complete performance of her duties under this paragraph 3 shall be a
condition precedent to CI's performance of its duties under this Agreement
- DUTIES OF THE CLIENT
In addition to the performance by the Client of his/her other duties under this Agreement, the Client
agrees that he/she is responsible to take such action as is indicated below:
- The Client shall permit CI to perform nondestructive testing on and take non-vital samples from
the Pet's body during the process of cryonic cryopreservation.
- The Client shall execute any releases, consents and other documents provided by CI, and shall
include any non-financial provisions in the Client's will or in any trust documents pertaining to the
Pet, as are reasonably required by CI to help effectuate the performance of this Agreement and the
cryopreservation of the Pet.
- The Client consents to CI's use or dissemination of information regarding the Pet's cryopreservation
according to CI's sole discretion, and consents to CI's use or dissemination of the Pet's medical history
as found necessary or useful, in CI's sole judgment, to the performance by CI of this Agreement.
- Any failure by the Client or any Related Individual to perform the foregoing duties, which
failure makes the Pet's cryopreservation impractical, shall relieve CI of its duty to cryonically store the Pet.
- CONTINGENCIES
- If at any time the funds possessed by CI do not permit the continued cryopreservation
of the Pet's body in the manner deemed by CI to be most effective, CI shall continue the Pet's
cryopreservation by the use of such alternative methods as it finds reasonably suitable and
economically practical, conforming whenever possible to the expressed wishes of the Client. If
the funds available do not permit the Pet's continued cryopreservation by any method judged by
CI to be possibly effective, or at such time that CI determines in its best good faith judgment
that the Pet's continued cryopreservation is certainly futile (by reason of lack of funds or
otherwise), the Pet's cryopreservation shall cease, and the Pet's body shall be disposed of
by burial or cremation. CI shall not be liable for such termination of the Pet's cryonic storage,
provided that CI shall have performed its obligations under this Agreement.
- If, in CI's best good faith judgment, the cryopreservation of the Pet is impractical, because
of legal problems, interference's by Related Individuals, medical, judicial or administrative authorities,
or otherwise, CI may fail to commence or may cease the Pet's cryopreservation, and the Pet's body
shall be disposed of by burial or cremation, and CI shall not be liable therefor.
- WARRANTIES
CI does not expressly warrant the quality of its efforts under this Agreement, and disclaims
and excludes all warranties, express or implied, including all warranties of merchantability or
fitness, except that CI promises to use its best efforts to perform its obligations under this
Agreement, as limited by the terms hereof. The warranties excluded and disclaimed hereunder
include, by way of example and not limitation, the following:
- CI does not warrant that the Pet's cryopreservation shall be successful; in particular, CI
does not warrant or represent that the Pet can or shall ever be revived or rehabilitated, that
the cause of the Pet's death can be reversed, that future social institutions will permit the
Pet's revival, or that the methods used to cryonically suspend the Pet will or can be successful.
All of these prospects are completely uncertain, and CI and the Client have entered into this
Agreement with full knowledge of this uncertainty.
- Because of the difficulty in evaluating methods of cryopreservation and storage, CI does not
warrant that the method of cryonic storage used with regard to the pet shall be the most advanced
or the most effective method available. CI shall not be obligated to use any particular method of
cryonic storage, notwithstanding the judgments of any practitioners or commentators as to the
superiority of any particular method.
- CI does not warrant that it shall cryonically treat the Pet with the aid of the most
advanced equipment or the most highly trained personnel, but CI shall use the best personnel
and equipment whose use is economically practical and which are reasonably available to CI under
the circumstances, as determined in CI's best good faith judgment.
- CI does not warrant that the Pet's cryopreservation is legally valid or will be
unimpeded by legal process.
- CI does not warrant or represent that the amount of the Cryopreservation Fee shall
be adequate to pay for the Pet's cryonic storage. The Clients acknowledge that the cost of
cryonic storage remains unknown, and CI's calculation of the Cryopreservation Fee represents
only CI’s best estimate of the probable cost of cryonic storage, using methods of cryonic storage
chosen in light of the financial abilities of CI's Members generally.
- CI does not warrant that it is or shall be capable of reviving or rehabilitating the Pet, or
that the Cryopreservation Fee is adequate to finance the Pet's revival or rehabilitation.
Clients acknowledge that CI possesses no current plans for the revival or rehabilitation of any of
CI's patients, and that CI's calculation of the Cryopreservation Fee does not include any
amount set aside to pay for the Pet's revival or rehabilitation.
- CI does not warrant that its investment of the portion of the Cryopreservation Fee that will
remain after the Pet has been cryonically stored will be sufficient to permit a return on investment
equal to the amount of the Pet's maintenance expenses, or that the investment shall otherwise be adequate.
- REPRESENTATIONS OF THE CLIENT
- The Client represents that he/she:
- Understands that cryonic cryopreservation is an unknown, untested process, and that no human
being, or any adult vertebrate, has ever been successfully cryonically suspended and revived,
and that physical damage (which may be irreversible) will have occurred, and further damage will occur
to the Pet's body through the use of current methods of cryonic storage;
- Understands that the success of cryopreservation depends on future advances
in science and technology and that the probability of success is completely unknown;
- Understands that CI is a nonprofit corporation with limited resources;
- Has read carefully and understands the disclaimers of warranty contained in this Agreement;
- Has carefully read and understands this Agreement, and has had an opportunity to
consult with an attorney regarding the same; and
- Notwithstanding the foregoing, consents to the performance by CI of the Pet's cryonic storage
pursuant to this Agreement, and the performance by CI of its obligations under this Agreement, including
its obligation to cryonically store the Pet according to CI's sole judgment and in accordance with
the terms of this Agreement.
- RELEASE
The client agrees to release CI and its officers, directors, employees, servants, delegees and
assigns, from all liability, loss, claims, expenses or damage (collectively referred to herein as
"losses") resulting from, alleged to result from, or related to the execution or performance of this
Agreement or any failures by CI to perform any of its duties hereunder for any reason whatsoever (except
that the provisions of paragraph 6c hereof govern the liability of CI for damages to the Pet for breach
of this Agreement), provided that CI shall use its best efforts to perform its obligations hereunder.
- REMEDIES
- Upon the failure of the Client to pay the full amount of the Cryopreservation Fee according to the
terms of paragraph 3 a above, such failure becoming apparent to CI only after CI has cryonically stored
the Pet, CI shall, at its sole option, either cease the Pet's cryonic storage (disposing of the Pet's
body by burial or cremation), or bring an action in a court of law to recover the unpaid amount of the
Cryopreservation Fee. If such court action is not successful within a short period of time (such period
of time to be determined by CI in its sole good faith judgment), CI may then cease the Pet's cryonic storage.
If CI ultimately ceases the Pet's cryonic storage because of the nonpayment, in whole or in part, of the
Cryopreservation Fee, CI shall be paid liquidated damages by the Client or the Client's estate in the
amount of $10,000.00, plus all costs of collection, including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys'
fees and court costs incurred in the prosecution of any lawsuit to recover the Cryopreservation Fee. If
CI does not ultimately cease such cryonic storage, CI shall be paid the full amount of the Cryopreservation
Fee by the Client or the Client's estate, plus all damages suffered as a result of such nonpayment, and all
costs of collection, including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys' fees and court costs.
- The liquidated damages referred to in the foregoing paragraph are stipulated by the
parties hereto because of the difficulty of determining and proving the actual damages suffered by
CI as a result of such failures of performance by the Client, and the Client agrees that the dollar
amount stipulated above is a reasonable figure for liquidated damages.
- Upon CI's breach of this Agreement, since any damages resulting therefrom are
uncertain and speculative (because of the uncertainty of cryopreservation), and subject
to the limitations of liability contained in this agreement, the Patient agrees that
his recovery from CI shall not exceed the Cryopreservation Fee already paid to CI,
less the sum expended by CI in the performance of the Agreement. Notwithstanding the
foregoing CI shall not be liable to pay any damages under any circumstances whatsoever
where such payment will or may endanger the adequacy of the continuing cryopreservation
of other patients of CI.
- ASSIGNMENT
- CI may assign and/or delegate part or all of its rights and duties under the Agreement,
but only if, after such assignment and/or delegation, CI has substantial assurance that
any delegee shall fully perform its obligations under this Agreement. CI shall not be liable
for the delegees failures to perform its obligations to the Client.
- MISCELLANEOUS
- Invalidity of any section of this Agreement shall void only that section not the entire Agreement.
- This agreement states the entire agreement of the parties hereto and is intended to
be the final, complete and exclusive statement of the terms thereof.
- This Agreement is reasonably related to the state of Michigan, and the rights and
obligations of the parties hereunder, and all performance hereunder, shall be governed
by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Michigan. Any action brought
relating to this Agreement shall be brought in a state court in Macomb County or a federal
court of appropriate jurisdiction located in the Eastern District of the State of Michigan.
- Any modification or waiver of this agreement must be made in writing and signed by
both parties. CI's failure, in advance of the Patient's legal death, to declare a patient
in default under this Agreement after a breach thereof, shall not be a waiver of CI's right
to later declare such a default or to decline to cryopreserve the Patient upon his/her
legal death as a result of such default.
- This Agreement shall bind the parties hereto and their agents, successors and assigns,
including the Patient's estate and the executor thereof.
- The headings in this Agreement are for purposes of reference only, and shall not
limit or otherwise affect the meaning of this Agreement.
- Whenever the singular number shall appear here, the same shall include the
plural, and the neuter, masculine and feminine forms shall include each other.
- This Agreement is executed in counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original,
and all of such counterparts, taken together, shall be deemed an agreement.
- Any notices required by the terms of this Agreement shall be made to the parties
hereto at the following addresses (or such other address as a party shall later indicate):
To CI: Cryonics Institute
24355 Sorrentino Court
Clinton Township MI 48035
with copy to:
David Ettinger (Attorney)
2290 First National Building
Detroit, Michigan 48226
To the Client: XXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have signed this Agreement, which is finally executed at
Clinton Township, Michigan.
CRYONICS INSTITUTE: by _________________________________________________
It's Contract Officer, dated ___________________
PATIENT (CI MEMBER) _______________________________, dated ______________
Subscribed and sworn to before me this _____ day of ________________________________
Signature of Notary Public _____________________________________________________
Name of Notary ________________________ County and State _______________________
If two witnesses are used instead of a notary, for each witness please show signature,
printed name, address, and date:
Witness 1 Signature __________________________________________Date ____________
Printed Name _______________________________________________________________
Address ___________________________________________________________________
Witness 2 Signature __________________________________________Date ____________
Printed Name _______________________________________________________________
Address ___________________________________________________________________