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Adloo v. H.T. Brown Real Estate Inc.12/16/1996
617, 565 A.2d 382 (1989), cert. denied, 318 Md. 515, 569 A.2d 644 (1990). In the cases involving exculpatory clauses, decided by this Court and also by the Court of Special Appeals, cited above, no question concerning the meaning of the clause was raised, only its applicability to the situation presented. Consequently, in those cases, only the latter issue was addressed.
This Court has addressed the former issue, however. In Crockett v. Crothers, 264 Md. 222, 285 A.2d 612 (1971), the Court was required to construe the following paragraph:
The obligations of the CONTRACTOR under this Article 32 shall not extend to the liability of the ENGINEER, his agents or employees arising out of (a) the preparation or approval of maps, drawings, opinions, reports, surveys, Change Orders, designs or specifications or (b) the giving of or the failure to give directions or instructions by the ENGINEER, his agents or employees provided such giving or failure to give is the primary cause of injury or damage.
Id. at 228, 285 A.2d at 615.
Noting the general rule - "contracts will not be construed to indemnify a person against his own negligence unless an intention to do so is expressed in those very words or in other unequivocal terms," id. at 227, 285 A.2d at 615 (citing Blockston v. United States, 278 F. Supp. 576, 591 (D. Md. 1968); Farrell Lines, Inc. v. Devlin, 211 Md. 404, 421-22, 127 A.2d 640, 648-49 (1956); 24 Md. L. Rev. 66 (1964)) - construing the paragraph, we agreed with the trial court that the appellee "did not agree in so many words or otherwise unequivocally - indeed did not agree at all - to indemnify Crockett against his own negligence." Id. at 228, 285 A.2d at 615. See also Heat & Power Corp. v. Air Products & Chemicals, Inc., 320 Md. 584, 592, 578 A.2d 1202, 1206 (1990).
Similarly, in Home Indem. Co. v. Basiliko, 245 Md. 412, 226 A.2d 258 (1967), the Court was called upon to construe the following clause:
Landlord shall not be responsible for loss of or damage to property of Tenant in said building caused by fire or other casualty, or by any acts of negligence of co-tenants or other occupants of said building or any other person, or by rain or snow or water or steam that may leak into or flow from said building through any defects in the roof or plumbing or from any other source.
Id. at 414, 226 A.2d at 259.
The issue was "whether ... the exculpatory clause in the lease absolved the lessors from damages caused by the leaking air conditioning unit." The appellant in that case contended that, because its words were susceptible of more than one meaning and the instrumentality which caused the damage was not definitively identified, the clause should have been construed against the lessors. Noting that "the wording of the exculpatory clause is not ambiguous" and "its meaning is not uncertain," id. at 417, 226 A.2d at 260, this Court affirmed the judgment in favor of the appellees. We explained:
The rule that a lease must be construed most strongly against a lessor and in favor of a lessee is only to be resorted to when the words of the lease are doubtful in their meaning or susceptible of more than one construction. ... As to the damage caused by water leaking into the premises of the tenants by way of the defective air conditioning unit, it is clear, since the meaning of the words in the third category of causes are neither doubtful nor susceptible of more than one construction, that the lessors were not responsible for the damage suffered by the lessees. And this would be so regardless of whether or not the lessors were negligent in keeping the air conditioning unit in good repair. Furthermo
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