1. The officers and members of the supreme governing body or any subordinate body of a society are not personally liable for any benefits provided by a society.

Terms Used In Iowa Code 512B.9

  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. Source: FDIC
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
  • person: means individual, corporation, limited liability company, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, or any other legal entity. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
  • Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
  • Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
  • Society: means a fraternal benefit society, unless otherwise indicated. See Iowa Code 512B.2
 2. a. A person may be indemnified and reimbursed by a society for expenses reasonably incurred by, and liabilities imposed upon, the person in connection with or arising out of a proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative, or investigative, or a threat of action in which the person is or may be involved by reason of the person being a director, officer, employee, or agent of the society or of any other legal entity or position which the person served in any capacity at the request of the society.

 b. However, a person shall not be so indemnified or reimbursed for either of the following:

 (1) In relation to any matter to which the person is finally adjudged to be or have been guilty of breach of a duty as a director, officer, employee, or agent of the society.
 (2) In relation to any matter which has been made the subject of a compromise settlement.
 c. However, if the person acted in good faith for a purpose the person reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the society and, in addition, in a criminal proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe that the conduct was unlawful, paragraph “b”, subparagraphs (1) and (2), do not apply. The determination whether the conduct of the person met the standard required in order to justify indemnification and reimbursement in relation to any matter described in paragraph “b”, subparagraph (1) or (2), may only be made by the supreme governing body by a majority vote of a quorum consisting of persons who were not parties to the proceeding or by a court of competent jurisdiction. The termination of a proceeding by judgment, order, settlement, conviction, or upon a plea of no contest, as to a person, does not in itself create a conclusive presumption that the person met or did not meet the standard of conduct required in order to justify indemnification and reimbursement. The right of indemnification and reimbursement is not exclusive of other rights to which a person may be entitled as a matter of law and shall inure to the benefit of the person’s heirs, executors, and administrators.
 3. A society may purchase and maintain insurance on behalf of any person who is or was a director, officer, employee, or agent of the society, or who is or was serving at the request of the society as a director, officer, employee, or agent of any other legal entity affiliated with the society against any liability asserted against the person and incurred by the person in any such capacity or arising out of the person’s status in relation to the society, whether or not the society would have the power to indemnify the person against such liability under this section.
 4. A volunteer serving without compensation, a director, officer, employee, or member of a society, is not liable, and no cause of action may be brought, for damages resulting from the exercise of judgment or discretion in connection with the duties or responsibilities of that person for the society unless the act or omission alleged to be an exercise of judgment or discretion involved willful or wanton misconduct.
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