comment on Should you agree to mutual indemnification / Merry Christmas December 25, 2025

KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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comment on Should you agree to mutual indemnification / Merry Christmas
December 25, 2025

Merry Christmas to all celebrating today.
Santa should have delivered your K&K's present last night

comment on Should you agree to mutual indemnification from article on December 10, 2025

Ken,
   In response to Janusz, adding a mutual indemnity provision to the agreement, your advice is wise, as usual, and while you accuse me of playing attorney (not just on weekends btw) your readers should understand that General Contractors are usually much more focused and astute to checking agreements for changes like that and much more rigid not to accept changes.
   Alarm dealers should not try to dance around the issue; they should try not to negotiate a change but to use the opportunity to explain why it is essential to our industry as well as theirs.
   But Janusz is way ahead and smart to be a Concierge Client of K&K.
Bart A. Didden, President
U.S.A. Central Station Alarm Corp.
Port Chester, NY
Milford, CT
St. Paul, MN

Response

   First let me thank Bart and many others who contribute to this forum. You should know that I believe it to be the most widely distributed and read forum of its type in the industry, and that's largely thanks to all of you.
   The Concierge Program has grown to another K&K first of its kind for this industry. I spend a good part of my day negotiating contract terms with subscribers, vendors and GCs looking to engage the industry and requiring their contract form to be signed. These form agreements invariably include a provision requiring you to indemnify them. I mentioned Concierge Clients because they know the risks they face when they don't use their Kirschenbaum Contracts TM. They know there are express and hidden risks in agreeing to other contracts to perform the services you all provide daily. Perhaps the biggest risk is the indemnity provision.
   You will be required to indemnify the GC, the vendor and the subscriber who has more bargaining power than you do under the circumstances; you will agree to sign the "other" agreements. But you can and should negotiate some of the terms in those agreements and that's where the Concierge Program pays for itself if only one contract is modified. '
   It's not a secret what you need to try to negotiate. You have to limit your indemnity to your insurance. [it's the same limit I suggested as vital in yesterday's article when signing the central station Dealer Agreement]. Your problem is can you negotiate successfully or do you stand a better chance having your attorney negotiate? My opinion, I can do it better than you. I can even do it better than Bart, though I am sure he will be less expensive. However if you're in the Concierge Program you get a free half hour each month for contract review and negotiation. And, most review and negotiations take only that free half hour. What makes me a better choice for those negotiations? I do it several times a day in my typical day. I also have the unique advantage of dealing directly with the attorney on the other side [I prefer not talking to your customer, no matter what his title] and I get to start by letting the attorney know that a substantial part of my law practice is representing the alarm industry, nationwide, thousands of alarm companies. I stress the significance of that by letting the attorney know that when I say something is customary and standard, or insisted on, I am not speaking solely for the alarm company I am negotiating for. It's a compelling argument, one you can't make, one your attorney can't make and one Bart can't make.
   So, join the Concierge Program today, be careful signing contracts other than your K&K Contracts, and be careful agreeing to indemnity provisions. And, be careful relying on wannabe attorneys who should, especially on today's Christmas holiday, be thankful they own an alarm company [central station at that] and don't have to earn a living practicing law.
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com