Herrick Corp. v. Canadian Ins. Co. of Cal.

Opinion

SILLS, P. J.

Introduction

It is hard to imagine another set of legal terms with more soporific effect than indemnity, subrogation, contribution, co-obligation and joint tortfeasorship. Perhaps because the words describe legal relationships between multiple parties, they are vaguely reminiscent of complex mathematical equations which, after all, also describe relationships, except in numbers rather than words—and for most of us, they are about as easy to understand. Even lawyers find words like “indemnity” and “subrogation” ring of an obscure Martian dialect.

For better or worse, the…