Equine Law Blog

Details for Equine Contracts: Indemnification Language (Where Appropriate and Where Allowed by Law)

The right contract language can help avoid disputes or reduce your expense if a dispute should arise.  Details can separate marginal contracts from effective ones. Details can also help prevent legal disputes.  A key detail to consider for a contract is indemnification.

Indemnification is a fine point that can be appropriate in a wide variety of contracts.  Indemnification, in its most basic sense, is an arrangement in which someone agrees to compensate another for an anticipated loss or liability.  For example, an indemnification can provide that if the owner of a horse gets sued because of the wrongful acts of a trainer who has the horse in his care and custody, then the trainer will pay the owner’s legal fees, liabilities, or judgments.

Indemnification language can be an excellent “fine point” to consider for equine leases. The lessor (the one who owns the horse but allows the “lessee” to use it under a special arrangement) risks being named in a lawsuit if the leased horse injures someone else – even though the lessor might be hundreds of miles away while the lessee uses the horse.  An indemnification provision within an equine lease typically would require the lessee to protect the lessor in this type of situation.

Discuss these and other provisions of contracts with a knowledgeable lawyer.

Other resources

Check out my article in the June 2012 issue of Desert Mirage:

"An Incomplete Contract is Sometimes as Bad as No Contract at All"

Categories: Contracts, Liability