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Exhibit 10.18
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INDEMNIFICATION
AGREEMENT (the
“Agreement”) dated
[ ]
, 2006 (the
“Agreement Date”) by and
between AMERICAN
TELECOM SERVICES,
INC., a
Delaware
corporation (including any
successors thereto, the
“Company”) and
[ ]
(“Indemnitee”).
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Competent and experienced persons
are reluctant to serve or to continue to serve corporations as
directors, officers, or in other capacities unless they are
provided with adequate protection through insurance or
indemnification (or both) against claims and actions against them
arising out of their service to, and activities on behalf of, those
corporations.
The Board of Directors of the
Company (the “Board”) has determined that the
continuation of present trends in litigation will make it more
difficult to attract and retain competent and experienced persons,
that this situation is detrimental to the best interests of the
Company’s stockholders, and that the Company should act to
assure its directors and officers that there will be increased
certainty of adequate protection in the future.
It is reasonable, prudent, and
necessary for the Company to obligate itself contractually to
indemnify its directors and officers to the fullest extent
permitted by applicable law in order to induce them to serve or
continue to serve the Company.
Indemnitee is willing to serve and
continue to serve the Company on the condition that Indemnitee be
indemnified to the fullest extent permitted by law.
Concurrently with the execution of
this Agreement, Indemnitee is agreeing to serve or to continue to
serve as a director or officer of the Company.
NOW, THEREFORE
, in consideration of the foregoing
premises, Indemnitee’s agreement to serve or continue to
serve as a director or officer of the Company, and the covenants
contained in this Agreement, the Company and Indemnitee hereby
covenant and agree as follows:
1. Certain Definitions. For
purposes of this Agreement:
(a) Affiliate shall mean any
Person that directly, or indirectly, through one or more
intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is under common
control with the Person specified.
(b) Change of Control shall
mean (i) any person shall after the date hereof become the
beneficial owner, directly or indirectly, of securities of the
Company representing
50% or more of the voting or economic interest
of all then outstanding securities of the Company, (ii) the
consummation of any corporate transaction, including a
consolidation or merger, of the Company in which the Company is not
the continuing or surviving entity, other than a consolidation or
merger of the Company in which the holders of the Company’s
equity interest immediately prior to the consolidation or merger
shall, upon consummation of the consolidation or merger, own at
least 50% of the equity interests of the surviving entity after
such consolidation or merger, (iii) persons who, as of the
Effective Time, represent all the members of the board of directors
(the “Board”) of the Company cease for any reason to
constitute at least a majority of the members of the Board, or
(iv) the consummation of any sale (in any single transaction
or series of related transactions) of all or substantially all of
the assets or business of the Company.
(c) Claim shall mean any
threatened, pending, or completed action, suit, or proceeding
(including, without limitation, securities laws actions, suits, and
proceedings and also any cross claim or counterclaim in any action,
suit, or proceeding), whether civil, criminal, arbitral,
administrative, regulatory, or investigative in nature, or any
inquiry or investigation (including discovery), whether conducted
by the Company or an other Person, that Indemnitee in good faith
believes could reasonably be expected to lead to the institution of
any action, suit, or proceeding.
(d) Expenses shall mean all
costs, expenses (including attorneys’ and expert
witnesses’ fees), and obligations paid or incurred in
connection with investigating, defending, (including affirmative
defenses and counterclaims), being a witness in, or participating
in (including on appeal), or preparing to defend, be a witness in,
or participate in, any Claim relating to any Indemnifiable
Event.
(e) Indemnifiable Event shall
mean any actual or alleged act, omission, statement, misstatement,
event, or occurrence related to the fact that Indemnitee is or was
a director, officer, agent, or fiduciary of the Company, or is or
was serving at the request of the Company as a director, officer,
employee, trustee, agent, or fiduciary of another corporation,
partnership, joint venture, employee benefit plan, trust, or other
enterprise, or by reason of an actual or alleged thing done or not
done by Indemnitee in any such capacity, but shall exclude acts or
omissions to the extent that they are finally determined by a court
of competent jurisdiction (after exhaustion of all appeals) to have
resulted from the intentional misconduct, fraud or a knowing
violation of law by Indemnitee and was material to the Claim
relating to an Indemnifiable Event. An Indemnifiable Event also
shall include (i) any event or occurrence which relates to the
business of the Company or any of its subsidiaries or the
operations thereof at any time prior to the time that Indemnitee
became an officer or director of the Company and (ii) any
alleged or actual material misrepresentations or omission
(A) in any filings made by the Company with the Securities and
Exchange Commission prior to the time that Indemnitee became an
officer or director of the Company or (B) in the
Company’s Form 10, or any amendments thereto. For purposes of
this Agreement, the Company agrees that Indemnitee’s service
on behalf of or with respect to any Subsidiary or employee benefit
plan of the Company or any Subsidiary of the Company shall be
deemed to be at the request of the Company.
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(f) Indemnifiable Liabilities
shall mean all Expenses and all other liabilities, damages
(including, without limitation, punitive, exemplary, and the
multiplied portion of any damages), judgments, payments, fines,
penalties, amounts paid in settlement, and awards paid or incurred
that arise out of, or in any way relate to, any Indemnifiable
Event, and any federal, state, local or foreign taxes imposed on
Indemnitee as a result of the actual or deemed receipt of any
payments under this Agreement.
(g) Person shall mean any
individual, corporation, partnership, limited liability company,
joint venture, trust, unincorporated association, or other form of
business or legal entity or governmental entity.
(h) Potential Change of
Control shall be deemed to have occurred if: (i) the
Company enters into an agreement, the consummation of which would
result in the occurrence of a Change of Control, (ii) any
Person (including the Company) publicly announces an intention to
take or to consider taking actions that, if consummated, would
constitute a Change of Control and the success and consummation of
such intention reasonably appears to be more likely than not, or
(iii) the Board adopts a resolution to the effect that, for
purposes of this Agreement, a Potential Change of Control has
occurred, except in each case for a transaction in which an
Indemnitee is participating as an active principal and not solely
as a result of such Indemnitee’s position as a director or
officer.
(i) Reviewing Party shall
mean a member or members of the Board who are not parties to the
particular Claim for which Indemnitee is seeking indemnification or
if a Change of Control has occurred or if there is a Potential
Change of Control and Indemnitee so requests, or if the members of
the Board so elect, or if all of the members of the Board are
parties to such Claim, Special Counsel.
(j) Special Counsel shall
mean special, independent legal counsel selected by Indemnitee and
approved by the Company (which approval shall not be unreasonably
withheld), and who has not otherwise performed material services
for the Company or for Indemnitee within the last three years or
who would not, under the applicable standards of professional
conduct then prevailing, have a conflict of interest in
representing either the Company or the Indemnitee in an action to
determine the Indemnitee’s rights under this Agreement (other
than as Special Counsel under this Agreement or similar
agreements).
(k) Subsidiary shall mean,
with respect to any Person, any corporation or other entity of
which a majority of the voting power of the voting equity
securities or equity interest is owned, directly or indirectly, by
that Person.
2. Indemnification and Expense
Advancement.
(a) The Company shall indemnify
Indemnitee and hold Indemnitee harmless to the fullest extent
permitted by law, as soon as practicable, but in no event later
than 30 days after written demand is presented to the Company, from
and against any and all Indemnifiable Liabilities. Notwithstanding
the foregoing, the obligations of the Company under this
Section 2(a) shall be subject to the condition that the
Reviewing Party shall not have determined (in a written opinion, in
any case in which Special Counsel is involved) that Indemnitee is
not
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permitted to be indemnified under applicable
law. Nothing contained in this Agreement shall require any
determination under this Section 2(a) to be made by the
Reviewing Party prior to the disposition or conclusion or the Claim
against the Indemnitee.
(b) If so requested by Indemnitee,
the Company shall advance to Indemnitee all reasonable expenses
incurred by Indemnittee to the fullest extent permitted by law (or,
if applicable, reimburse Indemnitee for any and all reasonable
Expenses incurred by Indemnitee and previously paid by Indemnitee)
within ten business days after such request (an “Expense
Advance”) and delivery by Indemnitee of an undertaking to
repay Expense Advances if and to the extent such undertaking is
required by applicable law prior to the Company’s payment of
Expense Advances. The Company shall be obligated from time to time
at the request of Indemnitee to make or pay an Expense Advance in
advance of the final disposition or conclusion of any Claim. In
connection with any request for an Expense Advance, if requested by
the Company, Indemnitee or Indemnitee’s counsel shall submit
an affidavit stating that the Expenses to which the Expense Advance
relate are reasonable. Any dispute as to the reasonableness of any
Expense shall not delay an Expense Advance by the Company. If,
when, and to the extent that the Reviewing Party determines that
Indemnitee would not be permitted to be indemnified with respect to
a Claim under applicable law or the amount of the Expense Advance
was not reasonable, the Company shall be entitled to be reimbursed
by Indemnitee and Indemnitee hereby agrees to reimburse the Company
without interest (which agreement shall be an unsecured obligation
of Indemnitee) for (x) all related Expense Advances
theretofore made or paid by the Company in the event that it is
determined that indemnification would not be permitted or
(y) the exc