In addition, Mr. Luxemburg said, it would probably be wise for co-op and condominium boards to take a hard look at the indemnification clauses in their management agreements.
Even Amtrak officials could not say how much the arrangement, known as indemnification, has cost the railroad, which needed $1.2 billion in government subsidies this year to stay afloat.
Mark Geistfeld, a law professor at New York University, said indemnification, a form of insurance, has its limits.
Timothy J. Mayopolous, general counsel for Fannie Mae, testified that the board had undertaken a review of the indemnification policies at that time.
The indemnification provision at most companies requires an officer or director to commit to repaying any advances if the person is found liable for breaching a fiduciary duty or engaging in conduct designed to harm the corporation.
The issue of corporate indemnification has become especially pitched at Goldman, which is mired in several prominent cases.
At a moral level, they don't deserve indemnification, much less payment of such princely sums".
"Anadarko is going to be arguing with BP over the well design, BP is going to be pointing fingers at the service companies for the well drilling and evaluation process, and the service companies are going to be pointing fingers back at BP, claiming it's BP's oversight and indemnification.
Laura DiDio, analyst at the Yankee Group, a Boston consultancy, is advising customers to push IBM for indemnification.
Due to DOE indemnification of its contractors, without some form of settlement being arrived at between the U.S. Justice Department and Rockwell the cost of paying any civil penalties would ultimately have been borne by U.S. taxpayers.
