Massachusetts § 8.51 Permissible indemnification

Massachusetts Statutes

§ 8.51 — Permissible indemnification

Massachusetts § 8.51

Part IADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT

Title XXIICORPORATIONS

Ch. 156DBUSINESS CORPORATIONS

This text of Massachusetts § 8.51 (Permissible indemnification) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 156D, § 8.51 (2026).

Text

Section 8.51. PERMISSIBLE INDEMNIFICATION(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a corporation may indemnify an individual who is a party to a proceeding because he is a director against liability incurred in the proceeding if:

(1)(i) he conducted himself in good faith; and(ii) he reasonably believed that his conduct was in the best interests of the corporation or that his conduct was at least not opposed to the best interests of the corporation; and(iii) in the case of any criminal proceeding, he had no reasonable cause to believe his conduct was unlawful; or(2) he engaged in conduct for which he shall not be liable under a provision of the articles of organization authorized by clause (4) of subsection (b) of section 2.02.

(b)A director's conduct with respect to an employee bene

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Section 8.51. PERMISSIBLE INDEMNIFICATION(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a corporation may indemnify an individual who is a party to a proceeding because he is a director against liability incurred in the proceeding if:(1)(i) he conducted himself in good faith; and(ii) he reasonably believed that his conduct was in the best interests of the corporation or that his conduct was at least not opposed to the best interests of the corporation; and(iii) in the case of any criminal proceeding, he had no reasonable cause to believe his conduct was unlawful; or(2) he engaged in conduct for which he shall not be liable under a provision of the articles of organization authorized by clause (4) of subsection (b) of section 2.02.(b) A director's conduct with respect to an employee benefit plan for a purpose he reasonably believed to be in the interests of the participants in, and the beneficiaries of, the plan is conduct that satisfies the requirement that his conduct was at least not opposed to the best interests of the corporation.(c) The termination of a proceeding by judgment, order, settlement, or conviction, or upon a plea of nolo contendere or its equivalent, is not, of itself, determinative that the director did not meet the relevant standard of conduct described in this section.(d) Unless ordered by a court under clause (3) of subsection (a) of section 8.54, a corporation may not indemnify a director under this section if his conduct did not satisfy the standards set forth in subsection (a) or subsection (b).