Township of East Brandywine, PA Chapter 14 Defense and Indemnification

[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township of East Brandywine 6-6-2002 by Res. No. 02-08. Amendments noted where applicable.]

GENERAL REFERENCES

Officers and employees — See Ch. 54.

§ 14-1 Authorization.

Unless otherwise restricted or prohibited by public policy and/or other applicable statutes or regulations, and only to the extent that any claim, judgment, cost or expense exceeds any applicable insurance coverage or indemnity, whether secured by the Township or officer or employee, the Township, acting through its Board of Supervisors, shall have the power to indemnify any officer or employee who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative, by reason of the fact that he/she is or was an officer or employee of the Township against expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees and costs), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by him/her in connection with the action or proceeding if he/she acted in good faith and in a manner he/she reasonably believed to be in, or not opposed to, the best interest of the Township and with respect to any criminal proceeding had no reasonable cause to believe his/her conduct was unlawful.

§ 14-2 Effect of termination of action or proceeding.

The termination of any action or proceeding by judgment, order, settlement or conviction upon a plea of nolo contendere, or consent decree or its equivalent, shall not of itself create a presumption that the person did not act in good faith and in a manner he/she reasonably believed to be in and not opposed to the best interest of the Township, and with respect to any criminal proceeding had reasonable cause to believe that his/her conduct was unlawful.

§ 14-3 Discretionary action.

Action under this chapter is to be taken solely in the exercise of the discretion of the Township Board of Supervisors and is not intended to create any contract or property right in any officer, employee or in any third party in the nature of a third-party beneficiary, creditor, beneficiary or like status.