Template:Indemnitycapsule: Difference between revisions

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Under an [[indemnity]], one party agrees to pay the other an agreed amount should a certain event occur during the {{t|contract}}.<ref>When you put it like that it sounds rather like a {{t|derivative}}, doesn’t it?</ref>
Under an [[indemnity]], one party (the “[[indemnifier]]”) agrees to pay the other the “[[indemnified]]”) an agreed amount should a specified event occur during the {{t|contract}}.<ref>When you put it like that it sounds rather like a {{t|derivative}}, doesn’t it?</ref>


The “events” covered by an {{t|indemnity}} are usually unexpected costs and expenses the [[indemnified party]] incurs while performing obligations under the {{t|contract}}, the benefits of which accrue to the [[indemnifying party]]: things like [[tax]] charges levied on a custodian relating to assets it holds for its clients. Without an indemnity, the party incurring these costs would just have to wear them. This would be a windfall for the benefiting party.
The “events” covered by an {{t|indemnity}} are usually unexpected costs and expenses the [[indemnified]] party incurs while performing obligations under the {{t|contract}}, the benefits of which accrue exclusively to the [[indemnifying party]]: things like [[tax]] charges levied on a custodian relating to assets it holds for its clients. Without an indemnity, the party incurring these costs would just have to wear them. This would be a windfall for the benefiting party.


An {{t|indemnity}} thus creates a payment obligation under the {{t|contract}} where one would not otherwise exist. If the indemnified event occurs and the indemnifi''er'' doesn’t pay, the indemnifi''ee'' has an action in [[breach of contract]]. It can sue.
An {{t|indemnity}} thus creates a payment obligation under the {{t|contract}} where one would not otherwise exist. If the indemnified event occurs and the [[Indemnified|indemnifi''er'']] doesn’t pay, the [[Indemnified|indemnifi''ee'']] has an action in [[breach of contract]].


And that’s about it. An {{t|indemnity}} gives you a right to sue where, without it, you would not have one.
And that’s about it. An {{t|indemnity}} gives you a right to sue where, without it, you would not have one.
In any case, '''[[indemnities]] should not, ''ever'', cover losses arising from [[breach of contract]]'''. Like, ''ever''. Anyone who tells you anything different — and in this old salt’s long and grim experience, many people who should know far better will — is, [[for the time being]], [[without limitation]] and [[notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the foregoing]] contained, a ''moron''.


For two reasons:
====[[Indemnity for breach of contract]]? ''No'', sir.====
 
In any case, '''[[indemnities]] should not, ''ever'', cover losses arising from [[breach of contract]]'''. Like, ''ever''. Anyone who tells you anything different — and in this old salt’s long and grim experience, many people who should know far better will — should be [[Get your coat|directed to the coat check]]. Here is why: if the other guy has breached the contract, [[Q.E.D.]] ''you have a right of action under the {{t|contract}}''. You don’t need an {{t|indemnity}}. This is self-evidently true.
Firstly, if the other guy has breached the contract, [[Q.E.D.]] ''you have a right of action under the {{t|contract}}''. You don’t need an {{t|indemnity}} to give you a right to sue. This is self-evidently true.  
 
Secondly, there are important limitations on one’s liability for [[breach of contract]] — questions of [[causation]], [[remoteness of damage]], [[foreseeability]] and proof of [[loss]] — developed over centuries in the Darwinian crucible of the [[common law]] — that are there for very good reasons, and about which the parties are certain to disagree vigorously. An indemnity is meant to be a pre-agreed amount, so is quite unsuitable for a contractual damages claim. There are those — as above, they are morons — who believe that overlaying the basic right to sue for breach with an indemnity will somehow subvert the need for adversarial inquiry into the breach. It won’t. <br>