(a)Unless otherwise addressed in subsection (b) or (c) of this section, the holder’s payment or delivery of property to the State Escheator terminates any legal relationship between the holder and the owner only with respect to the property reported and releases and discharges the holder from any and all liability to the owner, the owner’s heirs, personal representatives, successors, or assigns by reason of such payment or delivery, regardless of whether such property is in fact and in law abandoned property and such delivery and payment may be pleaded as a bar to recovery and shall be a conclusive defense in any suit or action brought by such owner, the owner’s heirs, personal representatives, successors and assigns or any claimant against the holder based on such delivery or payment. Ap
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(a) Unless otherwise addressed in subsection (b) or (c) of this section, the holder’s payment or delivery of property to the State Escheator terminates any legal relationship between the holder and the owner only with respect to the property reported and releases and discharges the holder from any and all liability to the owner, the owner’s heirs, personal representatives, successors, or assigns by reason of such payment or delivery, regardless of whether such property is in fact and in law abandoned property and such delivery and payment may be pleaded as a bar to recovery and shall be a conclusive defense in any suit or action brought by such owner, the owner’s heirs, personal representatives, successors and assigns or any claimant against the holder based on such delivery or payment. Application of this subsection is mutually exclusive of subsection (b) of this section and, accordingly, may not be applied in conjunction with subsection (b) of this section.
(b) Upon the delivery in good faith of a duplicate certificated security to the State Escheator or the registration of an uncertificated security to the State Escheator under § 1152 of this title, the holder and any transfer agent, registrar, or other person acting for or on behalf of the holder in executing or delivering such duplicate certificate or effectuating such registration, is relieved of all liability of every kind to every person, including any person acquiring the original of a certificated security or the duplicate of a certificated security issued to the State Escheator for any losses or damages resulting to any person by issuance and delivery to the State Escheator of the duplicate certificated security or the registration to the holder’s name of an uncertificated security.
(c) If a holder pays or delivers property to the State Escheator in good faith and thereafter another person claims the property from the holder or another state claims the money or property under its laws relating to escheat or abandoned or unclaimed property, the State Escheator, acting on behalf of the State, upon written notice of the claim, shall defend the holder against the claim and indemnify the holder against any liability on the claim, up to the value of the property at the time of escheatment, except that a holder shall not be indemnified against penalties or interest imposed by or awarded to another state, or for legal fees or expenses incurred by the holder in connection with the claim. For purposes of this subsection, “state” also includes any foreign jurisdiction or subdivision of a foreign jurisdiction that is not a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the State Escheator shall not indemnify any holder under this section for any claims made for any property against which a full period of dormancy has not yet run that was paid or delivered under subsection (e) of this section and § 1155(b) of this title, except as otherwise allowed by subsection (e) of this section.
(d) For the purposes of this section, “good faith” means that all of the following apply:
(1) Payment or delivery was made in a reasonable attempt to comply with this chapter and any other applicable law, including but not limited to relevant decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States and applicable law of any foreign jurisdiction.
(2) The person delivering the property was not a fiduciary then in breach of trust in respect to the property and had a reasonable basis for believing, based on the facts then known to the person, that the property was abandoned for the purposes of this chapter.
(3) There is no showing that the records pursuant to which the delivery was made did not meet reasonable commercial standards of practice in the industry.
(e) Under § 1155(b) of this title, at the request of a holder, the State Escheator may allow the holder to pay over or deliver property otherwise properly payable to the State but against which a full period of dormancy has not yet run. The State Escheator, as a condition of such allowance, may require the holder to enter into a written agreement acceptable in form and substance to the State Escheator, which agreement may require the holder to indemnify the State for liability or expenses incurred by the State in connection with property paid or delivered under § 1155(b) of this title, in addition to any other terms the State Escheator may deem appropriate. The decision to allow or deny a request under § 1155(b) of this title and to require or refuse the terms of any written agreement under this section shall be within the complete discretion of the State Escheator and shall not be subject to review. The holder of property paid or delivered to the State Escheator under § 1155(b) of this title shall not be entitled to the release, discharge, indemnity, or other protections provided under subsections (a), (b), and (c) of this section until the applicable dormancy period has run, provided that the State Escheator may agree to provide indemnity for any period prior to the expiration of the dormancy period in a written agreement under this subsection.
(f) For the purposes of this section, “penalties” means a penalty, interest, any other fee or fine, or damages that may accrue in association with nonperformance of a holder’s statutory obligations.