EX-3.1 2 d857262dex31.htm EX-3.1 EX-3.1

Exhibit 3.1

AMENDED AND RESTATED

CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION

OF

GENESEE & WYOMING INC.

 

 

FIRST:    The name of the Corporation (the “Corporation”) is

Genesee & Wyoming Inc.

SECOND:    The registered office of the Corporation in the State of Delaware is located at 1209 Orange Street, Wilmington, County of New Castle, Delaware 19801. The name of its registered agent in the State of Delaware at such address is The Corporation Trust Company.

THIRD:    The purpose of the Corporation is to engage, directly or indirectly, in any lawful act or activity for which corporations may be organized under the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (the “DGCL”).

FOURTH:    The total authorized capital stock of the Corporation shall be 3,000 shares of common stock, $0.01 par value per share.

FIFTH:    The Corporation is to have perpetual existence.

SIXTH:    The business of the Corporation shall be managed under the direction of the Board of Directors of the Corporation (the “Board of Directors”) except as otherwise provided by applicable law. The number of directors of the Corporation shall be fixed from time to time by, or in the manner provided in, the By-Laws of the Corporation (the “By-Laws”). Election of directors need not be by written ballot unless the By-Laws shall so provide.

SEVENTH:    The Board of Directors may make, alter or repeal the By-Laws except as otherwise provided in the By-Laws adopted by the Corporation’s stockholders.

EIGHTH:    (a) Each person who was or is made a party or is threatened to be made party to or is otherwise involved in any action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (hereinafter a “proceeding”), by reason of the fact that he or she is or was a director or officer of the Corporation or is or was serving at the request of the Corporation as a director, officer, employee or


agent of another corporation, or of a partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, including service with respect to an employee benefit plan (hereinafter an “indemnitee”), whether the basis of such proceeding is alleged action in an official capacity as a director, officer, employee or agent, or in any other capacity while serving as a director, officer, employee or agent, shall be indemnified and held harmless by the Corporation to the fullest extent authorized by the DGCL, as the same exists or may hereafter be amended (but, in the case of any such amendment, only to the extent that such amendment permits the Corporation to provide broader indemnification rights than such law permitted the Corporation to provide prior to such amendment), against all expense, liability and loss (including attorneys’ fees, judgments, fines, ERISA excise taxes or penalties and amounts paid in settlement) reasonably incurred or suffered by the indemnitee in connection therewith, and such indemnification shall continue as to an indemnitee who has ceased to be a director, officer, employee or agent and shall inure to the benefit of the indemnitee’s heirs, executors and administrators; provided, however, that, except as provided in Section (b) of this Article 8 with respect to proceedings to enforce rights to indemnification, the Corporation shall indemnify any such indemnitee in connection with a proceeding (or part thereof) initiated by such indemnitee only if such proceeding (or part thereof) was authorized by the Board of Directors. The right to indemnification conferred by this Article 8 shall be a contract right and shall include the right to be paid by the Corporation the expenses incurred in defending any such proceeding in advance of its final disposition (hereinafter an “advancement of expenses”); provided, however, that, if the DGCL so requires, an advancement of expenses incurred by an indemnitee in his or her capacity as a director or officer (and not in any other capacity in which service was or is rendered by such indemnitee, including without limitation service to an employee benefit plan) shall be made only upon delivery to the Corporation of an undertaking (hereinafter an “undertaking”), by or on behalf of such indemnitee, to repay all amounts so advanced if it shall ultimately be determined by final judicial decision from which there is no further right to appeal (hereinafter a “final adjudication”) that such indemnitee is not entitled to be indemnified for such expenses under this Article 8 or otherwise.

(b)    If a claim under Section (a) of this Article 8 is not paid in full by the Corporation within sixty days after a written claim has been received by the Corporation, except in the case of a claim for an advancement of expenses, in which case the applicable period shall be twenty days, the indemnitee may at any time thereafter bring suit against the Corporation to recover the unpaid amount of the claim. If successful in whole or in part in any such suit, or in a suit brought by the Corporation to recover an advancement of expenses pursuant to the terms of an undertaking, the indemnitee shall be entitled to be paid also the expense of prosecuting or defending such suit. In any suit brought by an indemnitee to enforce a right to indemnification hereunder (other than a suit brought by an indemnitee to enforce a right to an advancement of expenses) it shall be a defense that the indemnitee has not met the applicable standard of


conduct set forth in the DGCL. In any suit by the Corporation to recover an advancement of expenses pursuant to the terms of an undertaking, the Corporation shall be entitled to recover such expenses upon a final adjudication that the indemnitee has not met the applicable standard of conduct set forth in the DGCL. Neither the failure of the Corporation (including its Board of Directors, independent legal counsel, or stockholders) to have made a determination prior to the commencement of such suit that indemnification of the indemnitee is proper in the circumstances because the indemnitee has met the applicable standard of conduct set forth in the DGCL, nor an actual determination by the Corporation (including its Board of Directors, independent legal counsel, or stockholders) that the indemnitee has not met such applicable standard of conduct, shall create a presumption that the indemnitee has not met the applicable standard of conduct or, in the case of such a suit brought by the indemnitee, be a defense of such a suit. In any suit brought by the indemnitee to enforce a right to indemnification or to an advancement of expenses hereunder, or by the Corporation to recover an advancement of expenses pursuant to the terms of an undertaking, the burden of proving that the indemnitee is not entitled to such indemnification or to such advancement of expenses, under this Article 8 or otherwise, shall be on the Corporation.

(c)    The rights to indemnification and to the advancement of expenses conferred by this Article 8 shall not be exclusive of any other right which any person may have or hereafter acquire under any statute, the Corporation’s Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, as amended or supplemented, the By-Laws, agreement, vote of stockholders or disinterested directors or otherwise.

(d)    The Corporation may maintain insurance, at its expense, to protect itself and any director, officer, employee or agent of the Corporation, or another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, against any expense, liability or loss, whether or not the Corporation would have the power to indemnify such person against such expense, liability or loss under the DGCL.

(e)    The Corporation may, to the extent authorized from time to time by the Board of Directors, grant rights to indemnification and to the advancement of expenses to any employee or agent of the Corporation to the fullest extent of the provisions of this Article 8 with respect to the indemnification and advancement of expenses of directors and officers of the Corporation.

NINTH:    No director shall be personally liable to the Corporation or any of its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director except for liability (i) for any breach of the director’s duty of loyalty to the Corporation or its stockholders, (ii) for acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, (iii) pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL or (iv) for any transaction from which the director derived an improper personal benefit. If the DGCL is hereafter amended to further eliminate or limit the liability of a director of the Corporation,


then a director of the Corporation, in addition to the circumstances set forth here, shall have no liability as a director (or such liability shall be eliminated) to the fullest extent permitted by the DGCL as so amended. Any repeal or modification of this Article 9 by the stockholders of the Corporation shall not adversely affect any right or protection of a director of the Corporation existing at the time of such repeal or modification with respect to acts or omissions for or with respect to any acts or omissions of such director occurring prior to such repeal or modification.

TENTH:    The Corporation reserves the right to amend, alter, change or repeal any provision contained in this Certificate of Incorporation in the manner now or hereafter prescribed by statute, and all rights conferred herein upon the Corporation’s stockholders, directors and officers are granted subject to this reservation.