Farnham

—Although the policy of the law supposedly frowns upon all contracts that exempt a party from responsibility for his own “fraud, or willful injury to the person or property of another, or violation of law, whether willful or negligent” (Civ. Code, § 1668), that policy is not enforced in every context, and contractual releases of future liability for ordinary negligence, as well as contractual indemnity provisions, insurance contracts, and other limitations on liability are generally enforceable. Conversely, however, contractual releases of future liability for fraud and other intentional wrongs are invariably invalidated. In this case, we are presented with a hybrid contractual waiver that preserves an employee’s claims against his corporate employer but waives his right to sue the corporation’s officers, directors and shareholders for damages arising out of the employment agreement. When the employee sued the corporation and two directors for defamation, he arbitrated his claim against the corporation and won. Relying on the contractual waiver, the directors then sought and obtained dismissal of the action against them, and the employee now contends his waiver is against…