{"id":904568,"date":"2025-07-15T16:17:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T22:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=904568"},"modified":"2025-07-15T16:17:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T22:17:18","slug":"indemnification-provision-another-possible-out-of-uniwest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/indemnification-provision-another-possible-out-of-uniwest\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Possible \u201cOut\u201d of Uniwest?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Christopher G. Hill | <a href=\"https:\/\/constructionlawva.com\/another-possible-out-of-uniwest\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Construction Law Musings<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/constructionlawva.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Uniwest-v.-Amtech.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Uniwest case<\/a>\u00a0that stated that\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/law.lis.virginia.gov\/vacode\/title11\/chapter1\/section11-4.1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Va. Code 11-4.1<\/a>\u00a0renders an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/indemnification-provision-unenforceable\/\">indemnification provision<\/a> unenforceable if it requires indemnification for the indemnitee\u2019s actions?\u00a0 \u00a0I\u2019ve discussed it on several occasions and in contexts from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/constructionlawva.com\/uniwest-rides-again-or-are-architects-subject-to-va-code-section-11-4-1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">applicability to architects<\/a>\u00a0to whether it is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/constructionlawva.com\/another-twist-on-uniwest-and-indemnification\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">the operation of an indemnity clause<\/a>, even where the clause itself would be valid, that can make an indemnity provision unenforceable.\u00a0 Well, another wrinkle on this analysis popped up in a case out of the Eastern District of Virginia Federal Court in Norfolk. In\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/constructionlawva.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ZP-v-Huffman.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">ZP No. 332, LLC v Huffman Contractors, Inc. et. al.<\/a>, the Court allowed for an exception to the \u201cUniwest\u201d rule, at least at the Motion to Dismiss stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the&nbsp;ZP No. 32&nbsp;case, Huffman Contractors, Inc. was sued by ZP and one of the counts was for indemnification under a clause that was, at first blush, almost identical to the unenforceable one in&nbsp;Uniwest.&nbsp; The relevant portions of the indemnity clause for Huffman\u2019s purposes were as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Contractor shall indemnify, reimburse, hold harmless, and defend the Owner . . . from and against claims, damages, losses, and expenses, including, but not limited to, attorneys\u2019 fees (collectively a \u2018Loss\u2019), arising out of or resulting from performance of the Work . . . regardless of whether such claim, damage, loss[,] or expense is caused in part by a party indemnified hereunder.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Huffman argued, and (absent some language outlined below) I would agree that this clause fails under Uniwest and Virginia statute.&nbsp; The Court agreed that, if this were the end of things, the indemnity claim would fail.&nbsp; But, as they say in every infomercial ever made, that\u2019s not all.&nbsp; The Court went on to quote the remainder of the indemnity provision that stated:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>[i]f the [w]ork is to be performed in a state that prohibits any part of the indemnity coverage contained herein, the Contractor shall provide the maximum indemnity coverage allowed by that state to each of the Indemnified Parties.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The Court went on to discuss the clause, found in almost every construction contract I\u2019ve read that states essentially that if one part of this contract is invalid, the remainder survives and held that ZP had, at least at this early stage, plead enough damages from non-indemnitee actions to survive&nbsp;Uniwest&nbsp;and Huffman\u2019s Motion to Dismiss.&nbsp; In short, the Court stated that the language above saves that portion of the indemnity requirement while throwing out the \u201cillegal\u201d portion of the indemnity clause.&nbsp; As always, read the case for yourself and consider that this is a case at its early stages and much is left to be determined when doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My take? If this analysis prevails, much of the protections of\u00a0Uniwest\u00a0and Va. Code 11-4.1 are stripped away by simply stating that you mean to have max indemnity allowable by law.\u00a0 I also don\u2019t think it will be a huge issue for Virginia based contractors that work in Virginia as I\u2019ve seen the sorts of overbroad clauses stricken by\u00a0Uniwest\u00a0due to the good work of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/christopherhill-law.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">experienced Virginia construction attorneys<\/a>.\u00a0 I also recommend that any construction professional or company get the advice from such a lawyer when drafting the indemnity provisions of its construction contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes &#8211; please call Advise &amp; Consult, Inc. at 888.684.8305, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christopher G. Hill | Construction Law Musings Remember the\u00a0Uniwest case\u00a0that stated that\u00a0Va. Code 11-4.1\u00a0renders an indemnification provision unenforceable if it requires indemnification for the indemnitee\u2019s actions?\u00a0 \u00a0I\u2019ve discussed it on several occasions and in contexts from\u00a0applicability to architects\u00a0to whether it is\u00a0the operation of an indemnity clause, even where the clause itself would be valid, that&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/indemnification-provision-another-possible-out-of-uniwest\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Another Possible \u201cOut\u201d of Uniwest?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[9895,224,10742,357],"class_list":["post-904568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-contracts","tag-advise-consult","tag-construction-contract","tag-indemnification-provision","tag-virginia","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Another Possible \u201cOut\u201d of Uniwest? - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Va. 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