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92 U. Pa. L. Rev. 347 (1943-1944)
Indemnification Against Tort Liability--The Hold Harmless Clause--Its Interpretation and Effect Upon Insurance

handle is hein.journals/pnlr92 and id is 363 raw text is: June, 1944 University of Pennsylvania Law Review And American Law Register FOUNDED 1852 Copyright 1944, by the University of Pennsylvania. VOL. 92 JUNE, 1944 No. 4 INDEMNIFICATION AGAINST TORT LIABILITY-THE HOLD HARMLESS CLAUSE-ITS INTERPRETA- TION AND EFFECT UPON INSURANCE By LAWRENCE POTAMKIN t AND NORMAN L. PLOTKA 1 Introduction Mathematicians will tell you, categorically and without the slight- est equivocation, that you cannot combine or permute one object, that until you are ready to concern yourself with the plural you cannot deal with combination or permutation. But mathematicians have reached this conclusion without the benefit of training in the law. They think that having designated an object, a number, a clause, as A it thereafter remains A. We lawyers know otherwise. We know often the clause designated A by Judge Smith may be better called B if the judge is .Jones rather than Smith. And, though thereafter the judge remains Jones, a change in his diet may make B C. Thus, in the law, we find that the plural is often contained in the singular, that one may be many. This we lawyers know. But few know which type of clause is entitled to first honors in the variety of interpreta- tions enjoyed. The writers believe that the hold harmless clause wherein one party to a contract agrees to indemnify the other party against tort claims is that one. The writers also believe that the hold harmless clause may prove a veritable Frankenstein monster to its creators, threatening the security which their insurance Would other- wise provide. We offer the following in substantiation of these beliefs. t A. B, 1927, LL.B., 193o, University of Pennsylvania; Chief of the Operations Section of the Rural Electrification Division, Office of the Solicitor, United States Department of Agriculture. : A. B., I934, LL. B., 1937, University of Pennsylvania; Assistant Chief of the Operations Section of the Rural Electrification Division, Office of the Solicitor, United States Department of Agriculture. (347)

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