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201790P.pdf 09/01/2021 Spire Missouri v. USIC Locating Services, LLC
U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 20-1790
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri - Kansas City
[PUBLISHED] [Stras, Author, with Loken and Wollman, Circuit Judges]
Civil case - Missouri Anti-indemnification Law. After a natural gas pipe
explosion caused by the faulty marking of the location of Spires' natural
gas pipeline, Spire sought indemnification for the losses it incurred,
relying on the provisions of its contract with USIC, its utility-locating
contractor, which required USIC to indemnify Spire for the explosion
regardless of fault. Held: Under Missouri's anti-indemnification law, Mo.
Rev. Stat. Sec. 433.100.1, Spire could not use the parties' contract
provisions to shift the liability for its own negligence to USIC; the
actions involved here, flagging the line, keeps the pipeline in a state of
repair and is covered under the statute as "construction work."