ITEM 15. INDEMNIFICATION OF DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS
Set forth below is a description of certain provisions of the amended and restated certificate of incorporation, as amended, and by-laws of the Company and the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (“DGCL”), as such provisions relate to the indemnification of the directors and officers of the registrant. This description is intended only as a summary and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the restated certificate of incorporation, as amended, the by-laws and the DGCL.
Section 145 of the DGCL provides that a corporation may indemnify directors and officers as well as other employees and individuals against expenses, including attorneys’ fees, judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement in connection with specified actions, suits and proceedings whether civil, criminal, administrative, or investigative, other than a derivative action by or in the right of the corporation, if they acted in good faith and in a manner they reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe their conduct was unlawful. A similar standard is applicable in the case of derivative actions, except that indemnification extends only to expenses, including attorneys’ fees, incurred in connection with the defense or settlement of such action and the statute requires court approval before there can be any indemnification where the person seeking indemnification has been found liable to the corporation. The statute provides that it is not exclusive of other indemnification that may be granted by a corporation’s certificate of incorporation, as amended, by-laws, disinterested director vote, stockholder vote, agreement, or otherwise.
As permitted by the DGCL, the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation, as amended, provides that directors will not be personally liable to the Company or its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director, except for liability:
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for any breach of the director’s duty of loyalty to the Company or its stockholders,
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for acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law,
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under Section 174 of the DGCL (providing for liability of directors for unlawful payment of dividends or unlawful stock purchases or redemptions), or
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for any transaction from which the director derived any improper personal benefit.
If the DGCL is amended to authorize corporate action further eliminating or limiting the personal liability of directors, then the liability of the registrant’s directors shall be eliminated or limited to the fullest extent permitted by the DGCL, as so amended.
Article VII of the by-laws provides that the Company shall indemnify any person who was or is a party or who was or is threatened to be made a party to any action, suit, arbitration, alternative dispute mechanism, inquiry, judicial, administrative or legislative hearing, investigation or any other threatened, pending or completed proceeding, whether brought by or in the right of the corporation or otherwise, including any and all appeals, whether of a civil, criminal, administrative, legislative, investigative or other nature (hereinafter a “proceeding”) by reason of the fact that he is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation, or is or was serving at the request of the 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, liabilities, losses, and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by him in connection with such proceeding to the fullest extent authorized by the DGCL as the same exists or may hereafter be amended.
Article VII of the by-laws further provides that, except with respect to a proceeding to enforce rights to indemnification or advancement of expenses under Article VII, the Company shall be required to indemnify a person under this Article VII in connection with a proceeding (or part thereof) initiated by such person only if such proceeding (or part thereof) was authorized by the board of directors.
Article VII of the by-laws further provides that the Company may purchase and maintain insurance on behalf of any person who is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of the registrant. The Company