Janet Reding, Special Administratrix of Estate of Kenneth John Hall, Deceased v. Texaco, Inc. v. Moran Bros., Inc.

Texaco, Inc. (Texaco), defendant and third party plaintiff below, appeals from a verdict directed in favor of Moran Bros., Inc. (Moran), third party defendant below, in which the trial court ruled, as a matter of law, that Wyoming Statute § 30-28.3 rendered void and unenforceable Texaco’s contractual right to indemnification by Moran for the wrongful death of Kenneth John Hall.

Texaco argues that (1) the district court erred in finding that the indemnity agreement is governed by Wyoming law; (2) the “validation of contracts” rule should be invoked to apply the law which would uphold the intent of the parties; (3) the indemnity clauses of the contracts do not purport to require indemnification for the negligence of Texaco and, therefore, are not invalid under Wyoming law; (4) the Wyoming statute is ambiguous in its terms and should be construed to require “concurrent active negligence;” (5) Texaco is entitled to recover damages from Moran for breach of contract even if the indemnity clauses are held invalid; (6) the Wyoming statute is unconstitutional under the laws and constitution of the State of Wyoming) (7) the Wyoming statute is unconstitutional under article I, section 10 of…