Exhibit 10.20
Indemnity Agreement
This indemnity agreement, dated as of January
22, 2004 (the “Effective Date”), is made by and between
Granite Construction Incorporated , a Delaware
corporation (the "Company"), and Michael F.
Donnino , an Officer of the Company (the "Indemnitee").
This indemnity agreement, amended and re-drafted in substantially
the form of the original form of indemnity agreement approved by
the shareholders of the Company on February 22, 1990, is referred
to hereinafter as the “Agreement.”
Recitals
A. The Company is
aware that competent and experienced persons are increasingly
reluctant to serve as directors or officers of corporations unless
they are protected by comprehensive liability insurance or
indemnification, due to increased exposure to litigation costs and
risks resulting from their service to such corporations, and due to
the fact that the exposure frequently bears no reasonable
relationship to the compensation of such directors and
officers;
B. The statutes and
judicial decisions regarding the duties of directors and officers
are often difficult to apply, ambiguous, or conflicting, and
therefore fail to provide such directors and officers with
adequate, reliable knowledge of legal risks to which they are
exposed or information regarding the proper course of action to
take;
C. Plaintiffs often
seek damages in such large amounts and the costs of litigation may
be so enormous (whether or not the case is meritorious), that the
defense and/or settlement of such litigation is often beyond the
personal resources of officers and directors;
D. The Company
believes that it is unfair for its directors and officers and the
directors and officers of its subsidiaries to assume the risk of
huge judgments and other expenses which may occur in cases in which
the director or officer received no personal profit and in cases
where the director or officer was not culpable;
E. The Company
recognizes that the issues in controversy in litigation against a
director or officer of a corporation such as the Company or a
subsidiary of the Company are often related to the knowledge,
motives and intent of such director or officer, that he/she is
usually the only witness with knowledge of the essential facts and
exculpating circumstances regarding such matters, and that the long
period of time which usually elapses before the trial or other
disposition of such litigation often extends beyond the time that
the director or officer can reasonably recall such matters and may
extend beyond the normal time for retirement for such director or
officer with the result that he/she, after retirement or in the
event of his/her death, his/her spouse, heirs, executors or
administrators may be faced with limited ability and undue hardship
in maintaining an adequate defense, which may discourage such a
director or officer from serving in that position;
F. Based upon their
experience as business managers, the Board of Directors of the
Company (the "Board") has concluded that, to retain and attract
talented and experienced individuals to serve as officers and
directors of the Company and its subsidiaries and to encourage such
individuals to take the business risks necessary for the success of
the Company and its subsidiaries, it is necessary for the Company
to contractually indemnify its officers and directors and the
officers and directors of its subsidiaries, and to assume for
itself maximum liability for expenses and damages in connection
with claims against such officers and directors in connection with
their service to the Company and its subsidiaries, and has further
concluded that the failure to provide such contractual
indemnification could result in great harm to the Company and its
subsidiaries and the Company's shareholders;
G. Section 145 of
the General Corporation Law of Delaware, under which the Company is
organized ("Section 145"), empowers the Company to indemnify its
officers, directors, employees and agents by agreement and to
indemnify persons who serve, at the request of the Company, as the
directors, officers, employees or agents of other corporations or
enterprises, and expressly provides that the indemnification
provided by Section 145 is not exclusive;
H. The Company,
after reasonable investigation prior to the date hereof, has
determined that the liability insurance coverage available to the
Company and its subsidiaries as of the date hereof is inadequate
and/or unreasonably expensive. The Company believes, therefore,
that the interests of the Company's shareholders would best be
served by a combination of such insurance as the Company may
obtain, or request a subsidiary to obtain, pursuant to the
Company's obligations hereunder and the indemnification by the
Company of the directors and officers of the Company and its
subsidiaries;
I. The Company
desires and has requested the Indemnitee to serve or continue to
serve as a director or officer of the Company and/or one or more
subsidiaries of the Company free from undue concern for claims for
damages arising out of or related to such services to the Company
and/or one or more subsidiaries of the Company; and
J. The Indemnitee is
willing to serve, or to continue to serve, the Company and/or one
or more subsidiaries of the Company, provided that he/she is
furnished the indemnity provided for herein.
Agreement
NOW, THEREFORE, the parties hereto, intending
to be legally bound, hereby agree as follows:
(a) Agent
. For the purposes
of this Agreement, "agent" of the Company means any person who is
or was a director, officer, employee or other agent of the Company
or a subsidiary of the Company; or is or was serving at the request
of, for the convenience of, or to represent the interests of the
Company or a subsidiary of the Company as a director, officer,
employee or agent of another foreign or domestic corporation,
partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise; or was a
director, officer, employee or agent of a foreign or domestic
corporation which was a predecessor corporation of the Company or a
subsidiary of the Company, or was a director, officer, employee or
agent of another enterprise at the request of, for the convenience
of, or to represent the interests of such predecessor
corporation.
(b)
Expenses . For purposes of this Agreement,
"expenses" includes all out-of-pocket and indirect costs of any
type or nature whatsoever (including, without limitation, all
attorneys' fees and related disbursements, other out-of-pocket
costs actually and reasonably incurred by the Indemnitee in
connection with either the investigation, defense or appeal of a
proceeding or establishing or enforcing a right to indemnification
under this Agreement, Section 145 or otherwise; provided, however,
that “expenses” shall not include any judgments, fines,
ERISA excise taxes or penalties or amounts paid in settlement of a
proceeding.
(c)
Proceeding . For the purposes of this Agreement,
"proceeding" means any threatened, pending, or completed action,
suit or other proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative,
investigative or any other type whatsoever.
(d)
Subsidiary . For purposes of this Agreement,
"subsidiary" means any corporation of which more than 50% of the
outstanding voting securities is owned directly or indirectly by
the Company, by the Company and one or more other subsidiaries, or
by one or more other subsidiaries.
2.
Agreement to Serve . The Indemnitee agrees
to serve and/or continue to serve as an agent of the Company, at
its will (or under separate agreement, if such agreement exists),
in the capacity Indemnitee currently serves as an agent of the
Company, so long as he/she is duly appointed or elected and
qualified in accordance with the applicable provisions of the
bylaws of the Company or any subsidiary of the Company or until
such time as he/she tenders his/her resignation in writing,
provided, however, that nothing contained in this Agreement is
intended to create any right to continued employment by
Indemnitee.
(a)
Maintenance . The Company hereby covenants and
agrees that, so long as the Indemnitee shall continue to serve as
an agent of the Company and thereafter so long as the Indemnitee
shall be subject to any possible proceeding by reason of the fact
that the Indemnitee was an agent of the Company, the Company,
subject to Section 3(c), shall promptly obtain and maintain in full
force and effect directors' and officers' liability insurance
("D&O Insurance") in reasonable amounts from established and
reputable insurers.
(b) Rights and
Benefits . In all policies of D&O Insurance, the
Indemnitee shall be named as an insured in such a manner as to
provide the Indemnitee the same rights and benefits as are accorded
to the most favorably insured of the Company's directors, if the
Indemnitee is a director; or of the Company's officers, if the
Indemnitee is not a director of the Company but is an officer; or
of the Company's key employees, if the Indemnitee is not an officer
or director but is a key employee.
(c)
Limitations . Notwithstanding the foregoing, the
Company shall have no obligation to obtain or maintain D&O
Insurance if the Company determines in good faith that such
insurance is not reasonably available, the premium costs for such
insurance are disproportionate to the amount of coverage provided,
the coverage provided by such insurance is limited by exclusions so
as to provide an insufficient benefit, or the Indemnitee is covered
by similar insurance maintained by a subsidiary of the Company.
4.
Mandatory Indemnification . The Company
shall indemnify the Indemnitee as follows:
(a) Third
Party Actions . If the Indemnitee is a person who was or
is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any proceeding
(other than an action by or in the right of the Company) by reason
of the fact that he/she is or was an agent of the Company, or by
reason of anything done or not done by him/her in any such
capacity, the Company shall indemnify the Indemnitee against any
and all expenses and liabilities of any type whatsoever (including,
but not limited to, judgments, fines, ERISA excise taxes or
penalties, and amounts paid in settlement) actually and reasonably
incurred by him/her in connection with the investigation, defense,
settlement or appeal of such proceeding if he/she acted in good
faith and in a manner he/she reasonably believed to be in or not
opposed to the best interests of the Company, and, with respect to
any criminal action or proceeding, had no reasonable cause to
believe his/her conduct was unlawful; and
(b) Derivative
Actions . If the Indemnitee is a person who was or is a
party or is threatened to be made a party to any proceeding by or
in the right of the Company to procure a judgment in its favor by
reason of the fact that he/she is or was an agent of the Company,
or by reason of anything done or not done by him/her in any such
capacity, the Company shall indemnify the Indemnitee against all
expenses actually and reasonably incurred by him/her in
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