Limitation of Liability Clause Violates Anti-Indemnity Statute

Abstract

Many large civil engineering projects find the project’s engineers earning fees that are a small fraction of the ultimate cost of the project, and similarly, a small fraction of the potential liability arising out of the engineering for the project. To mitigate this risk, some engineering contracts include a limitation of liability clause that limits an owner’s claims against the engineer to a maximum amount—for example, the fee or available insurance. To reap the benefits of such provisions, it is important that they be drafted in such way as to comply with the peculiarities of the law of the jurisdiction governing the contract. The engineering firm in Lanier at McEver, L.P. v. Planners and Engineers Collaborative, Inc. 2008 belatedly discovered that the terms of its particular limitation of liability clause ran afoul of Georgia’s anti-indemnity statute.