Title: Equilon Pipeline Company LLC v. Conti Electric, Inc.

State: delaware

Issuer: Delaware Supreme Court

Document:

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE
EQUILON PIPELINE COMPANY, §
LLC,
§  No. 85, 2001
§
Plaintiff Below,
§  Court BelowSuperior Court
Appellant,
§  of the State of Delaware,
§  in and for New Castle County
v.
§  C.A. No. 00C-07-118
§
CONTI ELECTRIC, INC.,
§
§
Defendant Below,
§
Appellee.
§
    Submitted:  August 7, 2001
      Decided:  August 17, 2001
Before WALSH, HOLLAND and BERGER, Justices.
O R D E R
This 17th day of August 2001, the Court having considered this
matter on the briefs filed by the parties, has determined that the final
judgment of the Superior Court should be affirmed on the basis of and for
the reasons assigned by the Superior Court in its bench ruling of February
1, 2001.
  
The Superior Court held that the two-part indemnification provision in
the Equilon/Conti contract could not be severed so as to retain the viability
2
of the provisions that are not adverse to Delaware public policy.1  The
indemnification provision at issue in this case is a single run-on sentence.
That sentence contains a general indemnification requirement followed by a
specific requirement for Conti to indemnify Equilon for Equilon’s
negligence.
The 
record 
reflects 
that 
Equilon 
acknowledges 
the 
term
“maintenance” includes the work performed in the underlying contract.2
Therefore, its statutory argument was also properly rejected by the Superior
Court.
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the judgment
of the Superior Court is affirmed.
BY THE COURT:
/s/ Randy J. Holland
Justice
                                   
1 See J.S. Alberici Constr. Co. v. Mid-West Conveyor Co., Inc., Del. Supr., 750 A.2d
518 (2000).
2 See 6 Del. C. § 2704(a).