Plow contract indemnity

Definition

In Illinois, the rule that voids a snow plowing contract clause making one side pay for the other's fault.

Why It Matters

A commercial snow book carries the slip and fall claims, and the contract decides whose they are. Illinois voids any clause in a snow removal and ice control contract that makes the plow company indemnify, defend or hold harmless the property owner for the owner's own acts or omissions, or those of its agents and employees. It voids the mirror clause too, so the owner cannot be made to cover the plow company's mistakes. The act reaches plowing, shoveling and de-icing, and it stops at public roads, public bodies and utilities, and at insurance policies, surety bonds and workers' compensation. Contracts entered into before August 25, 2016 sit outside it. Where no rule like this applies, the indemnity paragraph is what decides whose negligence the book is carrying. Read it on every commercial snow contract, then read the claims history beside it. Snow revenue says what the winters paid, and this says what a bad one can cost.