indemnitee

An indemnitee is a person or organization that receives indemnity—protection or security against damage or loss, or compensation for damages or money spent.

Insurance coverage provides indemnity to a person or organization by insuring them for certain potential situations, such as damages to their property from natural disasters or accidents. Indemnity is commonly used in legal contracts to secure protection against being sued or held responsible for an accident. It’s often seen in the phrase indemnity clause.

The one who receives such coverage is the indemnitee, and the one who provides it is the indemnitor. The indemnitor is typically the insurance company, and the indemnitee is the person or organization who pays for the insurance coverage.

To provide indemnity is to indemnify. The indemnitor indemnifies the indemnitee.

Example: The final damage assessment is the obligation of the indemnitor, not the indemnitee—that’s part of what the policyholder is paying for.

Indemnitee is based on indemnity, which comes from the Latin indemni(s), meaning “without loss” or “uninjured.” This is formed from the prefix in-, which has a negating effect equivalent to un-, and demn-, from damnum, meaning “loss.” In indemnitee, the suffix -ee is used to indicate a person who is the object or beneficiary of something—in this case, the person who is the beneficiary of indemnity (just as an employee is the beneficiary of employment).

Indemnitee and indemnitor are used in the context of insurance and legal contracts. Insurance coverage gives the policyholder indemnity, meaning it protects against financial liability for damages or loss. Damages refers to those that happen to a piece of property like a car or house, or to injuries suffered by a person. Loss refers to things like the loss of income one might experience because they can’t work. The indemnitee is indemnified for these things, meaning they get compensated by the indemnitor for (at least part of) the money lost or spent.

In corporate law, an indemnity agreement often makes a company’s executives indemnitees against personally being sued if the company is sued.

Words like indemnitee and indemnitor are often considered legalese (legal jargon), especially since there are usually less confusing ways to say it. An indemnitee can usually also be called a policyholder or the insured. An indemnitor can usually also be called an insurer.

What are some other forms related to indemnitee?

• indemnity (noun)
• indemnitor (noun)
• indemnify (verb)
• indemnification (noun)

What are some synonyms for indemnitee?

• policyholder
• the insured

What are some words that share a root or word element with indemnitee? 

• condemn

What are some words that often get used in discussing indemnitee?

• insurance
• clause
• contract
• agreement
• loss
• damage
• protection
• compensate
• repay
• reimburse
• safeguard
• secure

Indemnitee is typically used in a technical way in the context of insurance and legal contracts.

Indemnitor Owes Indemnity Even Where Indemnitee is Actively Negligent, California Court Holds https://t.co/fAzvQkk8vm

— California Law News (@California_Laws) June 6, 2017

Indemnitee Must Prove Indemnitor Could Have Been Liable at Trial to Recover Settlement (Commercial Division Blog) https://t.co/uoUYdQc67B

— Schlam Stone & Dolan (@schlamstone) December 25, 2015

FYI: An indemnitor must explicitly agree to indemnify an indemnitee against the indemnitee's own negligence for the agreement to be valid.

— Zach Brien (@ZBrien) October 20, 2010

True or False? 

Indemnitee is an alternate spelling of indemnity.