[Adopted 11-24-1998 by Ord. No. 98-13 as Ch. 36, Art. IV, of the 1998 Code]
A. 
Except as hereinafter provided, the Township shall, upon the request of any present or former officer, employee or appointee of the Township, provide for indemnification and legal defense of any civil action brought against said person(s) arising from any alleged act or omission falling within the scope of the person's public duties.
B. 
For the purposes of this article, the Township's duty and authority to defend and indemnify shall extend to a crossclaim, counterclaim or third-party complaint against said person(s).
C. 
The terms of this article and the words "officer," "employee" and "appointee" are to be construed liberally in order to effectuate the purposes of this article.
D. 
The Township shall not indemnify any person(s) against the payment of punitive damages, penalties or fines, but may provide for the legal defense of such claims in accord with the standards set forth herein.
A. 
The Township shall provide for the defense of and indemnify the defendant(s) in a civil action if the person(s) involved acted or failed to act in a matter in which the Township has or had an interest or acted or failed to act in the discharge of a duty imposed or authorized by law.
B. 
The Township shall refuse to provide for the defense and indemnification of any civil action referred to in this article if the governing body finds that the act or omission did not occur within the scope of a duty of the officer, employee or appointee or the act or failure to act was the result of actual fraud, willful misconduct or actual malice of the person(s) requesting defense and indemnification.
In any other action or proceeding, the Township may provide for the defense of a present or former officer, employee or appointee if the governing body concludes that such representation is in the best interest of the Township and is in accord with the standards set forth above.
Whenever the Township provides for the defense of any action under this article, as a condition of such defense the Township may assume exclusive control over the representation of such person(s) defended, and such person shall cooperate fully with the Township; provided, however, that any person may at any time and at such person's option take control over representation by waiving all rights to indemnification and all rights to payment for costs of defense.
The Township, through the Business Administrator, may provide for the defense pursuant to this article by authorizing the Township Attorney to act in behalf of the person(s) being defended or by employing other counsel, pursuant to the New Jersey Local Public Contracts Law (N.J.S.A. 40A:11-1 et seq.), for this purpose or by asserting the Township's rights under any appropriate insurance policy which requires the insurer to provide the defense.