Texas Health and Safety Code 361.405 – Indemnification of Engineer or Contractor
(a) Notwithstanding any other law or rule, the commission may agree in a contract retaining an engineer or contractor to perform a program of removal, remedial action, or cleanup of a hazardous substance in connection with a contract or cooperative agreement under § 361.402 to indemnify the engineer or contractor against any claim or liability arising from an actual or threatened release of a hazardous substance that occurs during the performance of any work, including:
(1) damages arising from economic loss, personal injury, property damages, or death;
(2) costs and expenses, including the cost of defense of a lawsuit brought against the engineer or contractor; and
(3) claims by third parties for indemnification, contribution, or damages for economic loss, personal injury, property damages, or death.
(b) In determining whether to contract to indemnify an engineer or contractor under this section, the commission shall consider the availability of insurance to the engineer or contractor for the claims and liabilities against which the commission may indemnify the engineer or contractor under this section on the date the engineer or contractor enters into a contract to perform services covered by this section. The commission may not contract to indemnify an engineer or contractor under this section if the engineer or contractor cannot demonstrate that insurance is unavailable at a reasonable cost or if another engineer or contractor submitting a comparable proposal demonstrates that insurance is available at a reasonable cost.
Terms Used In Texas Health and Safety Code 361.405
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. Source: FDIC
- Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
- Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
- Person: includes corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Property: means real and personal property. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Rule: includes regulation. See Texas Government Code 311.005
(c) The commission is not obligated to award a contract if it determines that adequate liability insurance is not available to an engineer or contractor and that the award of the contract is not in the public interest.
(d) The commission may not contract to indemnify an engineer or contractor under this section unless the federal government agrees in a contract or cooperative agreement to indemnify in turn the commission under Section 119 of the environmental response law. The commission’s decision to contract or not to contract to indemnify an engineer or contractor may be made as an executive act without an adjudicative public hearing and is not subject to judicial review.
(e) An engineer or contractor performing a program of removal, remedial action, or cleanup of a hazardous substance under a contract entered into in connection with a contract or cooperative agreement under § 361.402 that results in an actual or threatened release of hazardous substance is not liable under Section 361.221, 361.223 through 361.229, or 361.252 for an act or a failure to act during the performance of the contract. This subsection does not in any way limit or otherwise affect the liability of an engineer or contractor in any other action.
(f) Subsections (a) and (e) do not apply to a grossly negligent act or omission or to wilful misconduct of an engineer or contractor during the performance of a contract. Notwithstanding any other law, an engineer or contractor performing a program of removal, remedial action, or cleanup of a hazardous substance under a contract entered into in connection with a contract or cooperative agreement under § 361.402 is liable for a grossly negligent act or omission or for wilful misconduct that results in an actual or threatened release of a hazardous substance in violation of Subchapter G or I, or Section 361.252, only to the extent that the act, omission, or misconduct caused the violation.
(g) In this section, “engineer or contractor” means a person, including the employee or subcontractor of the person, who performs a contract for evaluation, planning, designing, engineering, construction, equipment, or auxiliary services in connection with the identification of a site containing a hazardous substance, the development of a plan of response to the site, or the supervision or performance of the response to the site.