Item 6. |
Indemnification of Directors and Officers.
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Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law empowers a
corporation to indemnify its directors and officers and to purchase
insurance with respect to liability arising out of their capacity
or status as directors and officers, provided that the person acted
in good faith and in a manner the person reasonably believed to be
in our best interests, and, with respect to any criminal action,
had no reasonable cause to believe the person’s actions were
unlawful. The Delaware General Corporation Law further provides
that the indemnification permitted thereunder shall not be deemed
exclusive of any other rights to which the directors and officers
may be entitled under the corporation’s bylaws, any agreement, a
vote of stockholders or otherwise. The amended and restated
certificate of incorporation of the registrant provides for the
indemnification of the registrant’s directors and officers to the
fullest extent permitted under the Delaware General Corporation
Law. In addition, the amended and restated bylaws of the registrant
require the registrant to fully indemnify any person who was or is
a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened,
pending or completed action, suit or proceeding (whether civil,
criminal, administrative or investigative) by reason of the fact
that such person is or was a director or officer of the registrant,
or is or was a director or officer of the registrant serving at the
registrant’s request as a director, officer, employee or agent of
another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other
enterprise, against expenses (including attorney’s fees),
judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and
reasonably incurred by such person in connection with such action,
suit or proceeding, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable
law.
Section 102(b)(7) of the Delaware General Corporation Law
permits a corporation to provide in its certificate of
incorporation that a director of the corporation shall not be
personally liable to the corporation or its stockholders for
monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director, except
(1) for any breach of the director’s duty of loyalty to the
corporation or its stockholders, (2) for acts or omissions not
in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing
violation of law, (3) for payments of unlawful dividends or
unlawful stock repurchases or redemptions or (4) for any
transaction from which the director derived an improper personal
benefit. The registrant’s amended and restated certificate of
incorporation provides that the registrant’s directors shall not be
personally liable to it or its stockholders for monetary damages
for breach of fiduciary duty as a director and that if the Delaware
General Corporation Law is amended to authorize corporate action
further eliminating or limiting the personal liability of
directors, then the liability of the registrant’s directors shall
be eliminated or limited to the fullest extent permitted by the
Delaware General Corporation Law, as so amended.
Section 174 of the Delaware General Corporation Law provides,
among other things, that a director who willfully or negligently
approves of an unlawful payment of dividends or an unlawful stock
purchase or redemption may be held liable for such actions. A
director who was either absent when the unlawful actions were
approved, or dissented at the time, may avoid liability by causing
his or her dissent to such actions to be entered in the books
containing minutes of the meetings of the board of directors at the
time such action occurred or immediately after such absent director
receives notice of the unlawful acts.
As permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law, the
registrant has entered into separate indemnification agreements
with each of the registrant’s directors and certain of the
registrant’s officers which require the registrant, among other
things, to indemnify them against certain liabilities which may
arise by reason of their status as directors, officers or certain
other employees.
The registrant has obtained insurance policies under which its
directors and officers are insured, within the limits and subject
to the limitations of those policies, against certain expenses in
connection with the defense of, and certain liabilities which might
be imposed as a result of, actions, suits or proceedings to which
they are parties by reason of being or having been directors or
officers. The coverage provided by these policies may apply whether
or not the registrant would have the power to indemnify such person
against such liability under the provisions of the Delaware General
Corporation Law.
These indemnification provisions and the indemnification agreements
entered into between the registrant and the registrant’s officers
and directors may be sufficiently broad to permit indemnification
of the registrant’s officers and directors for liabilities
(including reimbursement of expenses incurred) arising under the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended.