Terms Of The Indemnity Did For Recovery Of Fees And Costs From Cross-Defendant.
The 2/8 DCA, in ZIM American Integrated Shipping Services, Co. v. GES Logistics, Inc., Case No. B292259 (2d Dist., Div. 8 Dec. 11, 2019) (unpublished), had no trouble interpreting the contractual interpretation reached by a trial judge below. What happened is that ZIM, which was contracted with by GES to provide shipping services at specified rates, was directed by GES to place a hold on one of GES’s customer’s cargo. Customer sued ZIM, who in turned cross-claimed against GES based on contractual indemnity language. The lower court awarded ZIM its legal fees incurred in the customer lawsuit based on ZIM’s cross-complaint against GES. The fees/costs award totaled $87,024.91. The appellate court affirmed based on clear contractual language requiring indemnification of fees/expenses incurred to ZIM “as a consequence of ZIM acting in accordance with GES’s instructions and information, or the inaccuracy of insufficiency thereof, ….”