"has been successful on the merits "
Hi friends, I would invite explanation for the sentence " (someone) has been successful on the merits ". What does it mean?

The context is " to the extent that Indemnitee has been successful on the merits or otherwise in defense of any Proceeding referred to in Section 1.1 or the defense of any claim, issue or matter therein, in whole or in part, the Company shall indemnify Indemnitee against all Expenses actually and reasonably incurred by Indemnitee in connection therewith. "

Thank you in advance!

Best
Oliver

Question

"has been successful on the merits "
Hi friends, I would invite explanation for the sentence  " (someone) has been successful on the merits ". What does it mean?

The context is " to the extent that Indemnitee has been successful on the merits or otherwise in defense of any Proceeding referred to in Section 1.1 or the defense of any claim, issue or matter therein, in whole or in part, the Company shall indemnify Indemnitee against all Expenses actually and reasonably incurred by Indemnitee in connection therewith. "

Thank you in advance!

Best
Oliver

Answer

The writing is thick with legal jargon and I am not a lawyer.  It has to do with legal details, evidence and the likelihood that the plaintiff will succeed with the presented evidence.  For example, if car A is stopped at a stop light and car B fails to make a legal stop as required and hits car A thus damaging it; then, especially if there are witnesses, the case would be won because of its success on the merits of the evidence.  As far as the technical legal jargon, that's best left with the lawyers.