The corporation shall, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, as amended from time to time, indemnify each person made or threatened to be made a party to any action or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (a "Proceeding") by reason of the fact that such person, such person's testator or intestate, is or was a director or officer of the corporation, or, while a director or officer, serves or served, at the request of the corporation, any other corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust, employee benefit plan or other enterprise in any capacity, against judgments, fines, penalties, amounts paid in settlement and reasonable expenses (including attorneys' fees, costs and charges) incurred in connection with such threatened or pending Proceeding, or any appeal thereof; provided, however, that no such indemnification shall be made if a judgment or other final adjudication adverse to such person establishes that (i) his or her acts were committed in bad faith or were the result of active and deliberate dishonesty and were material to the cause of action so adjudicated, or (ii) he or she personally gained, in fact, a financial profit or other advantage to which he or she was not legally entitled, and provided further that no such indemnification shall be required with respect to any settlement or other nonadjudicated disposition of any threatened or pending Proceeding unless the corporation has given its prior written consent to such settlement or other disposition.
The corporation shall, from time to time, advance or promptly reimburse upon request, to any director or officer seeking indemnification hereunder the funds necessary for payment of expenses (including attorneys' fees, costs and charges), reasonably incurred in connection with any threatened or pending proceeding and in advance of the final disposition thereof, upon receipt of a written undertaking by or on behalf of such person to repay such amount if such person is ultimately found not to be entitled to indemnification, or, where indemnification is granted, to the extent the expenses so advanced or reimbursed exceed the amount to which such person is entitled. |
Nothing herein shall limit or affect any right of any person to indemnification or to advancement of expenses (including attorneys' fees, costs and charges) under any statute, rule, regulation, certificate of incorporation, bylaw, resolution of directors or shareholders, insurance policy, contract or otherwise.
The corporation is authorized to enter into agreements with any of its directors or officers to reflect or confirm the rights and benefits contained in this article and to extend other additional rights to indemnification and advancement of expenses to any such person to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, and to set forth procedures for any such person to obtain advancement of expenses and indemnification, but the existence of any such agreement or the failure to enter into any such agreement shall not adversely affect or limit the rights of any such person pursuant to this article or otherwise.
For the purposes of this article, the corporation shall be deemed to have requested a person to serve an employee benefit plan where the performance by such person of his or her duties to the corporation also imposes duties on, or otherwise involves services by, such person to the plan or participants or beneficiaries of the plan, and, as a example but not by way of limitation, excise taxes assessed on a person with respect to an employee benefit plan pursuant to applicable law shall be considered indemnifiable expenses.
If a request to be indemnified or for the advancement of expenses pursuant to this article is not paid in full by the corporation within thirty (30) calendar days after a written claim has been received by the corporation, the person seeking indemnification or advancement of expenses may at any time thereafter bring suit against the corporation to recover the unpaid amount of the claim and, if successful, in whole or in part, the person seeking the indemnification or advancement of expenses shall also be entitled to be paid the expenses of prosecuting such claim. In any such judicial proceeding, the corporation shall have the burden of proving, by the preponderance of the evidence, that the person seeking indemnification or advancement of expenses is not entitled to indemnification or advances hereunder. Neither the failure of the corporation (including its Board of Directors, independent legal counsel or shareholders) to make a determination that the person seeking indemnification or advancement of expenses is entitled to indemnification or advancement of expenses under the circumstances, nor an actual determination by the corporation (including its Board of Directors, independent legal counsel or shareholders) that the person seeking indemnification or advancement of expenses is not so entitled, shall be a defense to an action or shall create a presumption that the person seeking indemnification or advancement of expenses is not so entitled.
Nothing in this article shall restrict the power and authority of the corporation to indemnify or advance expenses to, make indemnification agreements and arrangements with or maintain insurance on behalf of any director, employee or agent of the corporation or any person (whether or not a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation) who serves at the request of the corporation in any capacity with any other corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust, employee benefit plan or other enterprise.
If this article or any part hereof shall be held unenforceable in any respect by the court of competent jurisdiction, it shall be deemed modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, and the remainder of this article shall remain fully enforceable.
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