Steven M. Cvitanovic, who leads the firm’s construction practice, wrote a column published by Law360 on Jan. 30, 2013 about the trend in California to end indemnity in construction defect cases and how that effort does not affect agreements signed before the law changed. According to Cvitanovic, developers, contractors and subcontractors subject to those older agreements must continue to abide by the indemnity laws that existed prior to this year for commercial and public contracts and 2009.
In his column, Cvitanovic also offers advice about the enforcement process and how to avoid missteps. He also notes that the “first step in that process is obtaining a declaration that a duty to defend exists.
“Although indemnity for negligence arising out of construction claims in California is a thing of the past, enforcing contracts with strong indemnity agreements is very much a thing of the present. The importance of this process cannot be overstated and cannot be approached haphazardly,” he wrote. “Obtaining a declaration for a duty to defend validates the contract and places the indemnitee one step closer to actual indemnity. Winning such a motion prior to trial assists in the settlement process and secures the risk transfer mechanism that the parties bargained for under the contract from the beginning.” Click here to read the full article.