Tenant Must Indemnify Owner for Damages Caused by Owner's Wrongdoing

A lease required a tenant to indemnify—that is, defend and reimburse—the owner for claims brought by any third party injured at the tenant's space. The only exception was that the tenant didn't have to indemnify the owner for the owner's wrongdoing “arising out of the roof and structural parts of the building.” As a result of the owner's wrongdoing in the tenant's space, a child was hurt. The child's mother sued the tenant and owner for damages. The owner paid damages and then demanded reimbursement plus legal costs from the tenant under the indemnification clause. The tenant argued that it shouldn't have to indemnify the owner for the owner's wrongdoing.

An Iowa appeals court ruled that the tenant must indemnify the owner. The court noted that, although it typically frowns on a party's being indemnified for its own wrongdoing, it will enforce an indemnification that the parties agreed to in their lease. Here, the lease required the tenant to indemnify the owner for its wrongdoing unless the wrongdoing related to the roof and structural parts of the building. And the child's injury wasn't related to either of those [Iowa Wine and Beverage, Inc. v. Martens].