| Item 6. | Indemnification of Directors and Officers. |
Section 145 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (the “DGCL”) authorizes a corporation, under certain circumstances, to indemnify any person who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (other than an action by or in the right of the corporation), by reason of the fact that the person is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of such corporation, or is or was serving at the request of that corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, against expenses (including attorneys’ fees), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with such action, suit or proceeding, if he or she acted in good faith and in a manner he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation. With respect to any criminal action or proceeding, such indemnification is available if he or she had no reasonable cause to believe his or her conduct was unlawful.
Section 145 of the DGCL also empowers a corporation to purchase and maintain insurance on behalf of any person who is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of such corporation against liability asserted against or incurred by him in any such capacity, whether or not such corporation would have the power to indemnify such person against such liability under the provisions of Section 145.
Section 102(b)(7) of the DGCL provides that a certificate of incorporation may contain a provision eliminating or limiting the personal liability of a director to the corporation or its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director, provided that such provision shall not eliminate or limit the liability of a director (a) for any breach of the director’s duty of loyalty to the corporation or its stockholders, (b) for acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, (c) under Section 174 of the DGCL (relating to liability for unauthorized acquisitions or redemptions of, or dividends on, capital stock) or (d) for any transaction from which the director derived improper personal benefit.
As permitted by the DGCL, we have included in our certificate of incorporation a provision to eliminate the personal liability of our directors for monetary damages for breach of their fiduciary duties as directors, subject to certain exceptions. In addition, our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, as amended, provide that we are required to indemnify our officers and directors under certain circumstances, including those circumstances in which indemnification would otherwise be discretionary, and we are required to advance expenses to our officers and directors as incurred in connection with proceedings against them for which they may be indemnified.
We have entered into an indemnification agreement with each of our directors. These indemnification agreements provide that we will indemnify and hold harmless each person subject to an indemnification agreement (each, an “indemnified party”) to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law from and against all losses, costs, liabilities, judgments, penalties, fines, expenses and other matters that may result or arise in connection with such indemnified party serving in his or her capacity as a director of ours or serving at our request as a director, officer, employee, fiduciary or agent of another entity. The indemnification agreements further provide that, upon an indemnified party’s request, we will advance expenses to the indemnified party to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law. Pursuant to the indemnification agreements, an indemnified party is presumed to be entitled to indemnification and we have the burden of proving otherwise. In addition, from time to time, we have entered into and may enter into indemnification agreements and executive employment agreements containing indemnification provisions, and other agreements containing indemnification provisions with our senior officers. Such agreements and provisions generally provide, or will provide, that such persons are to be indemnified and held harmless to the fullest extent authorized by Delaware law. Under the terms of the Plan, we fully indemnify each member of our board of directors and any of our officers, directors or employees acting on behalf of the compensation committee of our board of directors for any action, determination or interpretation taken or made in good faith with respect to the Plan. We also have purchased directors’ and officers’ liability insurance covering certain liabilities that may be incurred by our directors and officers in connection with the performance of their duties.
The foregoing is only a general summary of certain aspects of Delaware law and our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, and does not purport to be complete. It is qualified in its entirety by reference to the detailed provisions of the DGCL and our certificate of incorporation and bylaws.
5
