Franchisors must protect their companies from lawsuits and liability. Indemnity and Hold Harmless Clauses in Franchise Agreements, while they may not always hold up are at least one way to help with this along with other strategies.

In my franchise agreements for my company, I addressed this issue by slightly modified our hold harmless clauses in our franchise agreements. Below is a copy of one of the early renditions of the clauses we used in our franchise agreements;

3.26 Indemnity/Hold Harmless

Franchisee agrees to defend at their own cost and to indemnify and hold Franchisor, its affiliates and its predecessor, sister or co-branding companies, their shareholders, directors, officers, members, employees, agents and their spouses, harmless from and against any and all loss, costs, expenses (including attorneys