Why Indemnity Alone Isn’t Enough: Coordinating Contract Risk Protections-Indemnity webinar

Video Transcription

Video Summary

This webinar explained why indemnity clauses alone are not enough to manage contract risk and how they must be coordinated with insurance requirements and liability waivers. Tony Lehman first defined indemnity, hold harmless, and defense obligations, then walked through broad form, intermediate form, and limited form indemnity. He stressed that broad form clauses are often unenforceable and risky, while limited form language tied to comparative fault is the preferred approach. He also reviewed common contract pitfalls, including payment-related indemnity, consequential damages, and waiver of subrogation provisions in AIA documents.<br /><br />Gary Sommer then showed how insurance functions as the “suspenders” to indemnity’s “belt.” He reviewed additional insured endorsements, primary and non-contributory wording, waiver of subrogation, project-specific aggregate limits, and how coverage triggers differ under vertical and horizontal exhaustion rules. He emphasized checking whether contract insurance requirements match available policy forms, especially for completed operations and the statute of repose.<br /><br />In the Q&A, they noted that consequential damages may be covered only in limited property-damage scenarios, and that material suppliers should first ensure their contracts reflect a sales role rather than subcontractor liability. The main takeaway: read contracts carefully, align legal language with insurance coverage, and know who should bear and insure the risk.

Keywords

indemnity clauses

contract risk

insurance requirements

liability waivers

additional insured endorsements

waiver of subrogation

consequential damages

comparative fault

project-specific aggregate limits