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LL #04-1980TOWN OF WAPPINGER DUTCHESS COUNTY, NEW YORK LOCAL LAW NO. 4,YEAR 1980 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Local Law adopted pursuant to the Municipal Home Rule Law to Indemnify And Hold Harmless Employees In Certain Civil Actions. BE!, IT ENACTED by the Town Board of the Town of Wappinger as follows: 1. As used in this local law: (a) "Agency" shall mean an office, position, administration, department, division bureau, board, community board, commission, institution or agency of government, the expenses of which are paid in whole or in part from the town general funds. (b) "Town" shall mean the Town of Wappinger. (c) "Comptroller" shall mean the comptroller of the town. (d) "Employee" shall mean any person holding a position by election, appointment or employment in the service of any agency, whether or not com- pensated, or a volunteer expressly authorized to participate in a town sponsored volunteer program, but shall not include an independent contractor. The term employee shall include a former employee, his estate or judicially appointed personal representative. 2. The town shall save harmless and indemnify all officers and employees of the town from financial loss arising out of any claim, demand, suit or judgment by reason of alleged negligence or other act by such officer or employee provided that the town board finds that such officer or employee at the time damages were sustained was acting in the discharge of his duties and within the scope of his employment and that such damages did not result from the willful and wrongful act or gross negligence of such officer or employee. 3. At the request of the employee and upon compliance by the employee with the provisions of subdivision four of this section, the town shall pwo- vide for the defense of an employee of any agency in any civil action or pro- ceeding in any state or federal court including actions under sections nine- teen hundred eighty-one through nineteen hundred eighty-eight of title forty- two of the United States Code or Article of the Civil Rights Law of the State of New York arising out of any alleged act or omission which the town board finds occurred while the employee was acting within the scope of his public employment and in the discharge of his duties and was not in violation of any rule or regulation of his agency at the time the alleged act or omission occurred. This duty to provide for a defense shall not arise where such civil action or proceeding is brought by or on behalf of the town or state or an agency of either. 4. The town shall indemnify and save harmless its employees in the amount of any judgment obtained against such employees in any state or federal court, or in the amount of any settlement of a claim approved by the town board, provided the town board finds that the act or omission from which such judgment or settlement arose occurred while the employee was acting within the scope of his public employment and in the discharge of his duties and was not in violation of any rule or regulation of his agency at the time the alleged damages were sustained; the duty to indem- nify and save harmless prescribed by this subdivision shall not arise where the injury or damage resulted from intentional wrongdoing or reck- lessness on the part of the employee. 5. The duty to defend or indemnify and save harmless prescribed by this local law shall also be conditioned upon (a) delivery to the town attorney and Town Board by the employee of the original or a copy 6L any summons, complaint, process, notice, demand or pleading within five days after he is served with such document, and (b) the full cooperation of the employee in the defense of such action or proceeding and in defense of any action or proceeding against the town based upon the same act or omission, and in the prosecution of any appeal. Such delivery shall be deemed a request by the employee that the town provide for his defense pur- suant to this section. In the event that the town shall assume an employee's defense and therafter the employee fails to or refuses to cooperate in the formation or presentation of his defense, the court shall after giving written notice to the employee of his intention to dis- continue such representation. 6. In the event that the act or omission upon which the court pro- ceeding against the employee is based was or is also the basis of a dis- ciplinary proceeding by the employee's agency against the employee, representation by the corporation counsel and indemnification by the town may be withheld (a) until such disciplinary proceeding has been resolved and (b) unless the resolution of the disciplinary proceeding exonerated the employee as to such act or omission. 7. Every action or proceeding institued hereunder, including an action brought to enforce a provision of sections nineteen hundred eighty- one through nineteen hundred eithty-eight of title forty-two of the United States code, shall be commenced pursuant to the provisions of section fifty -i of this chapter and within one year and ninety days. No action or proceeding instituted hereunder, other than one institued pur- suant to sections nineteen hundred eighty-one through nineteen hundred eithty-eight of title forty-two of the United States code shall be pro- secuted or maintained against the town or any agency or an employee un- less notice of claim shall have been made and served upon the town in compliance with section fifty -e of the General Municipal Law and within ninety days after the claim arises. 8. The provisions of this section shall not be construed to impair, alter, limit or modify the rights and obligations of any insurer under any policy of insurance. 9. The provisions of this section shall apply to all actions and proceedings pending ppon the effective date thereof or thereafter insti- tuted, except that the provisions of subdivision six shall apply only to actions and proceedings instituted on or after the effective date of this section. 10. The provisions of this section shall not be construed in any way to impair, alter, limit, modify, or abrogate or restrict any immunity available to or conferred upon any unit, entity, officer or employee of the town or any agency or any other level of government, or any right to de- fense and/or indemnification provided for any governmental officer or �4w employee by, in accordance with, or by reason of, any other provision of state, federal or local law or common law. 11. The benefits of this section shall inure only to employees of the town and shall not enlarge or diminish the rights of any other party. 12. This local law shall take effect upon filing with the Secretary of State..