A worker injured on a construction site sued the general contractor (Gilbane), who paid $1 million to settle. Gilbane then tried to recover that settlement money from the subcontractor (Keystone) using an indemnity clause in their contract. The Texas court ruled against Gilbane because the indemnity agreement didn't explicitly say it covered the indemnitee's own negligence. This means broad indemnity clauses that don't specifically mention the GC's negligence won't hold up in court.
Indemnity agreements must expressly state they cover the indemnitee's own negligence or they're unenforceable—vague language won't work
A GC cannot recover settlement costs from a subcontractor after the fact without a valid, properly-worded indemnity agreement in place
Review your indemnity clauses now: if they don't explicitly mention covering the other party's negligence, they may be worthless if you need them