I’ve only recently drilled down into my thinking about the question as to whether or why a tenant should indemnify its landlord with respect to the activities of the tenant’s invitees. I’m not talking about the insurance or cost aspects of such an indemnification, but about the underlying theories. I can’t say that I’m fully settled on the issue. So, this is a work in progress and help from anyone reading this entry would be very much appreciated.

This got started when I was asked about a proposed set of indemnification provisions in an industrial lease. Essentially, the indemnifications from landlord to tenant and from tenant to landlord mirrored each other. No problem there. The relevant (to this posting) text said: “wholly or in part, any act or omission of [Landlord/Tenant], its agents, contractors, employees, servants, invitees, licensees or concessionaires … .” The landlord was insistent that these kinds of people be listed. What did I think? [Read more…]