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ARTICLE · 17 AUGUST 2021

An Introduction To Indemnity Law

Collins Einhorn Farrell
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When a complaint comes in, it's natural for attorneys to read it and immediately start addressing the elements and defense to the plaintiff's claim.

United StatesReal Estate and Construction
Matthew S. LaBeau
Matthew S. LaBeau

When a complaint comes in, it's natural for attorneys to read it and immediately start addressing the elements and defense to the plaintiff's claim. In a legal-malpractice claim, for example, the first direction you may turn is to the case-within-a-case requirement. Or maybe you'll skim through a couple old briefs to refresh your memory about the statute of limitations.

In addition to attacking the claims of the plaintiff, it's crucial that attorneys take time to understand where else they need to focus their attention: Is there someone else to blame? Or, asked differently, what about indemnity? Unfortunately, a lot of attorneys think they understand indemnity law until it actually comes up. And then they don't.

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