I happened to be looking through a new apartment lease and saw the following clause:
HOLD HARMLESS FOR GUESTS. To the fullest extend permitted by law, Residents agree to defend, protect, indemnify, and hold harmless Owner and Owner's agents against and from any and all claims, suits, liabilities, judgements, costs, demands, causes of action, and expenses, brought by Residents, Occupants, Residents' guests, and any other individuals in the Leased Premises with Residents' permission. If any action or proceeding is brought against Owner or Owner's agents by reason of any such claim, upon notice from the Owner, Residents shall defend the same at Residents expense by counsel reasonable satisfactory to Owner.
This appears to basically mean two things:
- The apartment cannot be held liability for literally anything.
- If a resident attempts to hold the apartment liable, not only must they pay for their own legal costs, they'd have to pay for the apartment's legal defense as well.
Are the two points above accurate, or am I misunderstanding the clause? Is there any way this type of clause wouldn't immediately be thrown out of court? This seems absolutely ridiculous on the surface, but it seems to be fairly standard boilerplate for an apartment lease.