The Oregon Court of Appeals upheld a trial court’s decision holding that Oregon’s anti-indemnity statute voided a subcontract’s indemnity provision to the extent that it required the subcontractor to defend the general contractor against allegations of the general contractor’s or other subcontractors’ negligence.
In Sunset Presbyterian Church v. Anderson Construction Company, 268 Or App 309 (2014), a church sued its general contractor for construction defects, and the general contractor tendered defense of the action to several of its subcontractors. The subcontractors rejected the tender. Following this rejection, the general contractor filed a third-party complaint alleging that, among other things, the subcontractors breached their subcontracts by refusing to defend the general contractor.