A.
The franchisee shall maintain, and by its acceptance of the franchise
specifically agrees that it will maintain, throughout the entire length
of the franchise period, at least the following liability insurance
coverage insuring the Town and the franchisee: worker's compensation
and employer liability insurance to meet all requirements of Maryland
law and comprehensive general liability insurance with respect to
the construction, operation and maintenance of the cable system and
the conduct of the franchisee's business in the Town, in the
following minimum amounts, but in any event no less than the liability
limits specified by the Local Government Tort Claims Act:[1]
(1)
Five hundred thousand dollars for property damage resulting from
any one accident; $1,000,000 for property damage aggregate;
(2)
One million dollars for personal bodily injury or death for one person;
$2,000,000 for bodily aggregate per single accident and occurrence;
(3)
A general comprehensive public liability policy indemnifying, defending
and saving harmless the Town, its officers, boards, commissions, agents
or employees from any and all claims by any person whatsoever on account
of injury to or death of a person or persons occasioned by the operations
of the franchisee under the franchise herein granted or alleged to
have been so caused or occurred, with a minimum liability of $1,000,000
per personal injury or death of any one person and $2,000,000 for
personal injury or death of two or more persons in any one occurrence;
(4)
Two million dollars for all other types of liability; and
(5)
Automobile liability insurance for owned or leased vehicles in the
minimum amount of $2,000,000 for bodily injury and consequent death
per occurrence, $1,000,000 for bodily injury and consequent death
to any one person and $500,000 for property damage per occurrence.
[1]
Editor's Note: See Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article
of the Annotated Code of Maryland, § 5-301 et seq.
B.
Such general liability insurance must include coverage for all of
the following: all risks from premises operations, explosion and collapse
hazard, underground hazard, products/completed operations hazard,
contractual insurance, broad-form property damage and personal injury.
C.
The Town may review these amounts no more than once a year and may
require reasonable adjustments to them consistent with the public
interest.
A.
All insurance policies and certificates maintained pursuant to a
franchise agreement shall contain the following endorsement:
(1)
It is hereby understood and agreed that this insurance coverage may
not be canceled by the insurance company nor the intention not to
renew be stated by the insurance company until 30 days after receipt
by the Town's Secretary or Clerk, by registered mail, of a written
notice of such intention to cancel or not to renew.
B.
All contractual liability insurance policies and certificates maintained
pursuant to a franchise agreement shall include the provision of the
following hold harmless clause:
(1)
The company agrees to indemnify, save harmless and defend each municipality,
its agents, servants, and employees and each of them against and hold
it and them harmless from any or all lawsuits, claims, demands, liabilities,
losses and expenses, including court costs and reasonable attorney's
fees for or on account of any injury to any person, or any death at
any time resulting from such injury, or any damage to any property
which may arise or which may be alleged to have risen out of or in
connection with the work covered by this agreement. The foregoing
indemnity shall apply except if such injury, death or damage is caused
directly by the negligence or other fault of the Town, its agents,
servants or employees or any other person indemnified hereunder.
All insurance policies shall be with sureties qualified to do
business in the State of Maryland, with an A-1 or better rating of
insurance by Best's Key Rating Guide, Property/Casualty Edition,
and in a form acceptable to the Town.
All insurance policies shall be available for review by the
Town, and the franchisee shall keep on file with the Town certificates
of insurance.
All general liability insurance policies shall name the Town,
its officers, boards, commissions, Commissioners, agents and employees
as additional insureds and shall further provide that any cancellation
or reduction in coverage shall not be effective unless 30 days'
prior written notice has been given to the Town. A franchisee shall
not cancel any required insurance policy without submission of proof
that it has obtained alternative insurance satisfactory to the Town
which complies with its franchise agreement.
Failure to comply with the insurance requirements set forth
in this article shall constitute a material violation of a franchise.
A.
A franchisee shall, at its sole cost and expense, indemnify, hold
harmless and defend the Town, its officials, boards, commissions,
Commissioners, agents and employees against any and all claims, suits,
causes of action, proceedings and judgments for damages arising out
of the construction, maintenance or operation of its cable system;
copyright infringements or a failure by the franchisee to secure consents
from the owners, authorized distributors or franchisees of programs
to be delivered by the cable system; the conduct of the franchisee's
business in the Town; or in any way arising out of the franchisee's
enjoyment or exercise of the franchise, regardless of whether the
act or omission complained of is authorized, allowed or prohibited
by this chapter or its franchise agreement.
B.
Specifically, a franchisee shall fully indemnify, defend and hold
harmless the Town and, in its capacity as such, the officers, agents
and employees thereof from and against any and all claims, suits,
actions, liability and judgments for damages or otherwise subject
to 47 U.S.C. § 558 arising out of or alleged to arise out
of the installation, construction, operation or maintenance of the
system, including but not limited to any claim against the franchisee
for invasion of the right of privacy, defamation of any person, firm
or corporation or the violation or infringement of any copyright,
trade mark, trade name, service mark or patent, or of any other right
of any person, firm or corporation. This indemnity does not apply
to programming carried on any channel set aside for PEG use or channels
leased pursuant to 47 U.S.C. § 532, except that this indemnity
shall apply to any actions taken by a franchisee pursuant to 47 U.S.C.
§ 531(e) or 47 U.S.C. § 532(c)(2) concerning the
programming carried on PEG or leased access channels or an institutional
network.
C.
The indemnity provision includes, but is not limited to, the Town's
reasonable attorneys' fees incurred in defending against any
such claim, suit or proceeding, in addition to the reasonable value
of any services rendered by the Town Attorney or Town staff or employees.
Neither the provisions of this section nor any damages recovered
by the Town shall be construed to limit the liability of the franchisee
for damages under the franchise.
