INDIANAPOLIS — On March 30, 2015, a 2-1 Indiana Court of Appeals decision ruled in Mid-America Sound’s favor on the legitimacy of its indemnity clause in the contract to provide the staging structure that collapsed in high winds Aug. 13, 2011, killing seven.
That appellate court decision reversed a summary judgment from one year earlier, which ruled that the indemnity clause, dismissed by the State Fair Commission as “boilerplate” verbiage, could not shield the staging provider from financial liability.
Facing the possibility of being on the hook for more than the $11 million the state has already paid to compensate the collapse victims and their families, the State of Indiana had 30 days to file a petition to Indiana’s Supreme Court. Attorney General Greg Zoeller said in a statement the state would do just that.
“While we respect the Court of Appeals panel, we strenuously disagree with this ruling and we plan to petition the Indiana Supreme Court to review the case and overturn the decision,” Zoeller noted in a statement.
