KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE You can read all of our articles on our website. Having trouble getting our emails? Change your spam controls and whitelist ken@kirschenbaumesq.com ****************************** comment on Municipality demanding indemnity February 11, 2026 ********************************* comment on Municipality demanding indemnity from article on January 30, 2026 ********************************* Ken, Great advice about having a lawyer (one that knows our business) modify an agreement that requires that the alarm company indemnify the subscriber. We see a lot of these agreements during due diligence. Typically these agreements are one size fits all vendor agreements that protect the customer from damages when the vendor is onsite. In the case of an alarm company I can understand a customer wanting to hold the company responsible for something that occurred when they were on site, such as breaking a window with a ladder. Your recommendation to limit the indemnification to acts occurring on the premises makes sense. Once the relationship switches to monitoring, indemnification could, as you point out, make the alarm company an insurer. Alarm company owners should ask themselves if they really want to be on the hook for a $20 million building that burns to the ground. Your other suggestion, and one that I encourage, is not to DIY this, and to let you do the negotiations. You do this for many of my clients and I get glowing reviews. Mitch Reitman 817 698 9999 XT 101 Reitman Consulting Group Fort Worth, TX ********************************* Response ********************************* When you think there is no reason an alarm company would agree to any indemnity provision. Indemnity is too closely aliged with insurance. While it is a risk allocation mechanism those same areas of exposure and liability exist already in the contractual relationship. In the context of performance of a contract any damages caused would be a breach of that contract; contract damages are available. Under general tort rules when one causes damage to another there is liability; that covers loss when you are negligent. There are subtle distinctions between liability for breach of contract, negligence and indemnity liability. I doubt most lawyers could explain those differences. Breach of contract and negligence damages are more easily described and contained. Indemnity can be much broader and it's commonly thought of as insurance. Indeed insurance is indemnity. One of the first lessons you learn in the alarm industry, aside from where to find the best lawyer and contracts, is that you are not engaged in the insurance business; you offer no insurance coverage. That should extend to indemnity as well. Since you will be asked to sign agreements that contain indemnity provisions you should have a lawyer, me actually, review the contract and suggest [demand, depending on your bargaining power in the deal] modification of the indemnity provision. You are not in the insurance business and if you agree to indemnify anyone for anything you need to back that indemnity up with insurance coverage that you will pay for. Hopefully you will consider the cost of that insurance coverage to cover the indemnity when you provide your quote for the job. If you don't then you are assuming a risk with potentially unlimited expense without considering the cost or consequences. Join the Concierge Program and have these "vendor" or "contractor" or "provider" contracts reviewed and changed. ********************************* STANDARD FORMS Alarm / Security / Fire and related Agreements click here: www.alarmcontracts.com *************************** CONCIERGE LAWYER SERVICE PROGRAM FOR THE ALARM INDUSTRY - You can check out the program and sign up here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/concierge or contact our Program Coordinator Stacy Spector, Esq at 516 747 6700 x 304. *********************** ALARM ARTICLES: You can always read our Articles on our website at ww.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/alarm-articles updated daily ******************** THE ALARM EXCHANGE - the alarm industries leading classified and business exchange - updated daily ************************* Wondering how much your alarm company is worth? Click here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/what-is-my-alarm-company-worth ****************************** Getting on our Email List / Email Articles archived: Many of you are forwarding these emails to friends or asking that others be added to the list. Sign up for our daily newsletter here: Sign Up. You can read articles and order alarm contracts on our web site www.alarmcontracts.com ************************** Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC Attorneys at Law 200 Garden City Plaza Garden City, NY 11530 516 747 6700 x 301 ken@kirschenbaumesq.com www.KirschenbaumEsq.com
