Professional Memberships Each employee is eligible for reimbursement for membership fees or dues paid for the maintenance of a license required to perform employee’s job and for dues paid for membership in one additional job related professional association.
Liability of Member and Managers Neither the Member nor any manager shall have any liability for the obligations or liabilities of the Company except to the extent provided herein or in the Act.
STANDARD OF CARE AS FOREIGN CUSTODY MANAGER OF A PORTFOLIO In performing the responsibilities delegated to it, the Foreign Custody Manager agrees to exercise reasonable care, prudence and diligence such as a person having responsibility for the safekeeping of assets of management investment companies registered under the 1940 Act would exercise.
Standard of Care In the absence of willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence or reckless disregard of obligations or duties hereunder on the part of the Sub-Advisor, the Sub-Advisor shall not be subject to liability to the Advisor, the Trust or to any shareholder of the Portfolio for any act or omission in the course of, or connected with, rendering services hereunder or for any losses that may be sustained in the purchase, holding or sale of any security.
Standard of Care; Liabilities (a) The Bank shall be responsible for the performance of only such duties as are set forth in this Agreement or expressly contained in Instructions which are consistent with the provisions of this Agreement. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement:
(i) The Bank will use reasonable care with respect to its obligations under this Agreement and the safekeeping of Assets. The Bank shall be liable to the Customer for any loss which shall occur as the result of the failure of a Subcustodian to exercise reasonable care with respect to the safekeeping of such Assets to the same extent that the Bank would be liable to the Customer if the Bank were holding such Assets in New York. In the event of any loss to the Customer by reason of the failure of the Bank or its Subcustodian to utilize reasonable care, the Bank shall be liable to the Customer only to the extent of the Customer’s direct damages, and shall in no event be liable for any special or consequential damages.
(ii) The Bank will not be responsible for any act, omission, default or for the solvency of any broker or agent which it or a Subcustodian appoints unless such appointment was made negligently or in bad faith or for any loss due to the negligent act of such broker or agent except to the extent that such broker or agent (other than a Subcustodian) performs in a negligent manner which is the cause of the loss to the Customer and the Bank failed to exercise reasonable care in monitoring such broker’s or agent’s performance where Customer has requested and Bank has agreed to accept such monitoring responsibility.
(iii) The Bank shall be indemnified by, and without liability to the Customer for any action taken or omitted by the Bank whether pursuant to Instructions or otherwise within the scope of this Agreement if such act or omission was in good faith, without negligence. In performing its obligations under this Agreement, the Bank may rely on the genuineness of any document which it believes in good faith to have been validly executed.
(iv) The Customer agrees to pay for and hold the Bank harmless from any liability or loss resulting from the imposition or assessment of any taxes or other governmental charges, and any related expenses with respect to income from or Assets in the Accounts, except to the extent that the Bank has failed to exercise reasonable care in performing any obligations which the Bank may have agreed to assume (in addition to those stated in this Agreement) with respect to taxes and such failure by the Bank is the direct cause of such imposition or assessment of such taxes, charges or expenses.
(v) The Bank shall be entitled to rely, and may act, upon the advice of counsel (who may be counsel for the Customer) on all legal matters and shall be without liability for any action reasonably taken or omitted pursuant to such advice; provided, that the Bank gives (to the extent practicable) prior notice to Customer of Bank’s intention to so seek advice of counsel and an opportunity for consultation with Customer on the proposed contact with counsel.
(vi) The Bank represents and warrants that it currently maintain a banker's blanket bond which provides standard fidelity and non-negligent loss coverage with respect to the Securities and Cash which may be held by Subcustodians pursuant to this Agreement. The Bank agrees that if at any time it for any reason discontinues such coverage, it shall immediately give sixty (60) days' prior written notice to the Customer. The Bank need not maintain any insurance for the benefit of the Customer.
(vii) Without limiting the foregoing, the Bank shall not be liable for any loss which results from: (1) the general risk of investing, or (2) investing or holding Assets in a particular country including, but not limited to, losses resulting from nationalization, expropriation or other governmental actions; regulation of the banking or securities industry; currency restrictions, devaluations or fluctuations; and market conditions which prevent the orderly execution of securities transactions or affect the value of Assets.
(viii) Neither party shall be liable to the other for any loss due to forces beyond their control including, but not limited to strikes or work stoppages, acts of war or terrorism, insurrection, revolution, nuclear fusion, fission or radiation, or acts of God.
(b) Consistent with and without limiting the first paragraph of this Section 12, it is specifically acknowledged that the Bank shall have no duty or responsibility to:
(i) question Instructions or make any suggestions to the Customer or an Authorized Person regarding such Instructions;
(ii) supervise or make recommendations with respect to investments or the retention of Securities;
(iii) advise the Customer or an Authorized Person regarding any default in the payment of principal or income of any security other than as provided in Section 5(c) of this Agreement;
(iv) evaluate or report to the Customer or an Authorized Person regarding the financial condition of any broker, agent (other than a Subcustodian) or other party to which Securities are delivered or payments are made pursuant to this Agreement;
(v) review or reconcile trade confirmations received from brokers. The Customer or its Authorized Persons (as defined in Section 10) issuing Instructions shall bear any responsibility to review such confirmations against Instructions issued to and statements issued by the Bank.
(c) The Customer authorizes the Bank to act under this Agreement notwithstanding that the Bank or any of its divisions or affiliates may have a material interest in a transaction, or circumstances are such that the Bank may have a potential conflict of duty or interest including the fact that the Bank or any of its affiliates may provide brokerage services to other customers, act as financial advisor to the issuer of Securities, act as a lender to the issuer of Securities, act in the same transaction as agent for more than one customer, have a material interest in the issue of Securities, or earn profits from any of the activities listed herein.
Duties of Members Each Member must have a duty as set forth in Exhibit 1 to this agreement. The Members agree that the failure to satisfy a Member’s duties may result in the expulsion or removal of that Member.
(a) If a Member fails at their duties for a period of one hundred twenty (120) consecutive days, the Member will lose their membership interest. The start date of the failure must be documented.
(b) If a Member fails to do their duties for one hundred twenty (120) days out of any two hundred thirty nine (239) day period, the Company will consider such a failure and whether the Member will be expelled and lose their membership interest in accordance with this Article and Section 00-00-000 of the Act. The dates of failure in question must be documented.
(c) If a Member disputes the completion of another Member’s duties and attempts to take over that Member’s interest, they must do so in writing by certified delivery to the Member’s residential address as listed in Exhibit 1. If certified delivery is not available, hand delivery by a third party is acceptable.
(d) If a Member receives a complaint as described above, the Member must fulfill their established duties within fourteen (14) days.
(e) If there is a dispute as to what any Member’s duties are or if those duties are being fulfilled, and the Members have gone through the dispute process outlined in the above subsections (a) through (d) of this Section 4.06, the Members agree to enter into binding mediation or arbitration to decide if the Member’s duties are being performed in compliance with the agreed duties as outlined in Exhibit 1 of this Agreement. If the Members fail to reach an agreement through arbitration or mediation, the Members in dispute agree to file a complaint in the appropriate Court to procure a decision as to the fulfillment of Members’ duties. Upon a decision by the Court that a Member has failed to meet its duties, the Member will assign and forfeit their membership interest to the other remaining Member(s). The assignment of the non-compliant Member’s membership interest will result in a debt owed to the non-compliant Member by the Company. The debt owed to the expelled Member shall be the aggregate sum of any capital contributions submitted to the Company by the expelled Member.
(f) The value of the non-compliant Member’s interest being transferred to the remaining Member(s) must be determined before the transfer can be completed. During the course of the transfer, the non-compliant Member will maintain complete powers of membership in the Company.
(g) In the event of a dispute of Member’s duties, Members may negotiate an exchange of membership interests for a lesser amount of Member duties, provided that modification is memorialized and attached to Exhibit 1.
VOTES OF MEMBERS On the show of hands every Member present in person shall have one vote. On a poll every Member present in person or by proxy shall have one vote.
Independent Managers Of the authorized number of Managers provided in Section 7.03 hereof, the Board shall at all times have at least two individuals who are Independent Managers (as defined in Section 7.16) who are acting as Managers. So long as any Securities are outstanding, this Section shall not be amended, altered or repealed without the written consent of 100% of the Board (including Independent Managers) with notice of such amendment provided promptly to each Rating Agency. To the fullest extent permitted by law, including Section 18-1101(c) of the Act, and notwithstanding any duty otherwise existing at law or in equity, the Independent Managers shall consider only the interests of the Company, including its creditors, in acting or otherwise voting on the matters referred to in Section 5.02. Except for duties to the Company as set forth in the immediately preceding sentence (including duties to the Member and the Company’s creditors solely to the extent of their respective economic interests in the Company but excluding (i) all other interests of the Member, (ii) the interests of other Affiliates of the Company, and (iii) the interests of any group of Affiliates of which the Company is a part), the Independent Managers shall not have any fiduciary duties to the Member or any other Person bound by this Agreement; provided, however, the foregoing shall not eliminate the implied contractual covenant of good faith and fair dealing. To the fullest extent permitted by law, including Section 18-1101(e) of the Act, an Independent Manager shall not be liable to the Company, the Member or any other Person bound by this Agreement for breach of contract or breach of duties (including fiduciary duties), unless the Independent Manager acted in bad faith or engaged in willful misconduct. No resignation or removal of an Independent Manager, and no appointment of a successor Independent Manager, shall be effective until such successor shall have executed a counterpart to this Agreement. In the event of a vacancy in the position of Independent Manager, the Member shall, as soon as practicable, appoint a successor Independent Manager. All right, power and authority of the Independent Managers shall be limited to the extent necessary to exercise those rights and perform those duties specifically set forth in this Agreement and the Independent Managers shall otherwise have no authority to bind the Company. No Independent Manager shall at any time serve as trustee in bankruptcy for any Affiliate of the Company.
Standard of Care; Liability (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, Bank shall exercise reasonable care, prudence and diligence in carrying out all of its duties and obligations under this Agreement (except to the extent Applicable Law provides for a higher standard of care, in which case such higher standard shall apply), and shall be liable to Customer for any and all Liabilities suffered or incurred by Customer resulting from the failure of Bank to exercise such reasonable care, prudence and diligence or resulting from Bank's negligence, willful misconduct, or fraud and to the extent provided in Section 5.2(a). Unless otherwise specified or required by Applicable Law, Bank shall not be in violation of this Agreement with respect to any matter as to which it has satisfied the standard of care under this Agreement.
(b) Bank shall not be liable under any circumstances for any indirect, incidental, consequential or special damages (including, without limitation, lost profits) of any form incurred by any person, whether or not foreseeable and regardless of the type of action in which such a claim may be brought, with respect to the Accounts or Bank's performance hereunder or Bank's role as custodian.
(c) Subject to the limitations set forth in this Agreement, each Customer severally and not jointly shall indemnify the Bank Indemnitees against, and hold them harmless from, any Liabilities that may be imposed on, incurred by or asserted against any of the Bank Indemnitees in connection with or arising out of Bank's performance under this Agreement, provided the Bank Indemnitees have not acted with negligence or bad faith or engaged in fraud or willful misconduct in connection with the Liabilities in question. Nevertheless, Customer shall not be obligated to indemnify any Bank Indemnitee under the preceding sentence with respect to any Liability for which Bank is liable under Section 5.2 of this Agreement. Bank shall use all commercially reasonable efforts to mitigate any Liability for which indemnity is sought hereunder (provided, however, that reasonable expenses incurred with respect to such mitigation shall be Liabilities subject to indemnification hereunder).
(d) Subject to any obligation Customer may have to indemnify Bank with respect to amounts claimed by third parties, Customer shall have no liability whatsoever for any consequential, special, indirect or speculative loss or damages (including, but not limited to, lost profits) suffered by Bank Indemnitees in connection with the transactions and services contemplated hereby and the relationship established hereby even if Customer has been advised as to the possibility of the same and regardless of the form of action.
(e) Without limiting Subsections 7.1 (a) or (b), Bank shall have no duty or responsibility to:
(i) question Instructions or make any suggestions to Customer or an Authorized Person regarding such Instructions, provided that Bank believes in good faith that such Instructions have been given by Authorized Persons or which are transmitted with proper testing or authentication pursuant to terms and conditions that Bank may specify; (ii) supervise or make recommendations with respect to investments or the retention of Financial Assets; (iii) advise Customer or an Authorized Person regarding any default in the payment of principal or income of any security other than as provided in Section 2.7(b) of this Agreement; (iv) except as otherwise expressly required herein, evaluate or report to Customer or an Authorized Person regarding the financial condition of any broker, agent or other party to which Bank is instructed to deliver Financial Assets or cash; or (v) except for trades settled at DTC where the broker provides DTC trade confirmation and Customer provides for Bank to receive the trade instruction, review or reconcile trade confirmations received from brokers (and Customer or its Authorized Persons issuing Instructions shall bear any responsibility to review such confirmations against Instructions issued to and statements issued by Bank).
(f) Bank shall indemnify the Customer from and against any and all Liabilities which may be imposed on, incurred by, or asserted against the Customer resulting directly either from Bank's negligence, bad faith, fraud or willful misconduct in the performance of its obligations or duties hereunder, or from any act or omission by a Subcustodian in the performance of its subcustodial obligations or duties hereunder for which Bank is expressly liable under Section 5.2, taking into account the standards and market practice prevailing in the relevant market, provided that (i) in no event shall the Bank be obliged to indemnify Customer from against any Liability (or any claim for a Liability) to the extent such Liability is described in clause 7.1(b) this Agreement and (ii) the Customer shall use all commercially reasonable efforts to mitigate any Liability for which indemnity is sought hereunder (provided, however, that reasonable expenses incurred with respect to such mitigation shall be Liabilities subject to indemnification hereunder).
Directors, Trustees and Shareholders and Massachusetts Business Trust It is understood and is expressly stipulated that neither the holders of shares in the Fund nor any Directors or Trustees of the Fund shall be personally liable hereunder. With respect to any Fund which is a party to this Agreement and which is organized as a Massachusetts business trust (“Trust”), the term “Fund” means and refers to the trust established by its applicable trust agreement (Declaration of Trust) as the same may be amended from time to time. It is expressly agreed that the obligations of any such Trust hereunder shall not be binding upon any of the trustees, shareholders, nominees, officers, agents or employees of the Trust, personally, but bind only the trust property of the Trust, as provided in the Declaration of Trust of the Trust. The execution and delivery of this Agreement has been authorized by the trustees and signed by an authorized officer of the Trust, acting as such, and neither such authorization by such Trustees nor such execution and delivery by such officer shall be deemed to have been made by any of them, but shall bind only the trust property of the Trust as provided in its Declaration of Trust.
