A hold harmless agreement is a contractual promise by one party to absorb liability that would otherwise fall on another. It operates in contract, not in insurance. Insurance may respond to the obligation through contractual liability coverage, but the agreement itself creates the exposure regardless of whether any policy backs it.
Updated September 2026.
Why brokers care
This is the clause that most often reaches further than the insurance arranged alongside it. The insurance article in a contract gets read and priced. The indemnity clause sits elsewhere in the agreement and quietly commits the client to more than their policy will respond to. Where the two diverge, the gap sits with the client and typically surfaces only after a loss.
What to check
- Whether the indemnity is limited, intermediate or broad form
- Whether the policy's contractual liability coverage responds to it
- Any jurisdictional limits, since some are unenforceable in some places
- Whether the indemnity survives termination of the agreement
- That the insurance article and the indemnity clause actually align
Common mistake
Reading the insurance article and not the indemnity clause. They sit in different parts of the agreement, they are negotiated by different people, and where the indemnity reaches further than the insurance, the difference belongs to the client.
Where these clauses hide is covered in the contract requirements guide.