EX-3.1 2 tm2214165d1_ex3-1.htm EXHIBIT 3.1

Exhibit 3.1

 

AMENDED AND RESTATED

 

CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION

 

OF

 

US ECOLOGY, INC.

 

FIRST: The name of the corporation is US Ecology, Inc. (the "Corporation").

 

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

 

THIRD: The purpose of the Corporation is to engage in any lawful act or activity for which corporations may be organized under the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware as the same exists or may hereafter be amended ("Delaware Law").

 

FOURTH: The total number of shares of stock which the Corporation shall have authority to issue is 1,000, and the par value of each such share is $0.01, amounting in the aggregate to $10.00.

 

FIFTH: The Board of Directors shall have the power to adopt, amend or repeal the bylaws of the Corporation.

 

SIXTH: Election of directors need not be by written ballot unless the bylaws of the Corporation so provide.

 

SEVENTH: The Corporation expressly elects not to be governed by Section 203 of Delaware Law.

 

EIGHTH: (1) Each person who was or is made a party to or is threatened to be made a party to or is involuntarily involved in any action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (a "Proceeding"), by reason of the fact that he is or was a director and/or officer of the Corporation, or is or was serving (during his tenure as director and/or officer) at the request of the Corporation, any other corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise in any capacity, whether the basis of such Proceeding is an alleged action in an official capacity as a director or officer, or in any other capacity while serving as a director or officer, shall be indemnified and held harmless by the Corporation to the fullest extent authorized by Delaware Law as now or hereafter in effect (but, in the case of any such amendment, only to the extent that such amendment permits the Corporation to provide broader indemnification rights than are permitted to the Corporation prior to such amendment) against all expenses, liability and loss (including attorneys' fees, judgments, fines, ERISA excise taxes or penalties and amounts paid or to be paid in settlement) reasonably incurred or suffered by such person in connection with such Proceeding. Such director or officer shall have the right to be paid by the Corporation for expenses incurred in defending any such Proceeding in advance of its final disposition; provided, however, that the payment of such expenses in advance of the final disposition of any such Proceeding shall be made only upon receipt by the Corporation of an undertaking by or on behalf of such director or officer to repay all amounts so advanced if it should be determined ultimately that he is not entitled to be indemnified under this Article EIGHTH, Section 1 or otherwise. No amendment to or repeal of this Article EIGHTH, Section 1 shall apply to or have any effect on any right to indemnification provided hereunder with respect to any acts or omissions occurring prior to such amendment or repeal.

 

 

 

 

(2) If a claim for indemnity under Article EIGHTH, Section 1 is not paid in full by the Corporation within ninety (90) days after a written claim has been received by the Corporation, the director or officer may at any time thereafter bring suit against the Corporation to recover the unpaid amount of the claim, together with interest thereon, and if successful in whole or in part, such director or officer shall also be entitled to be paid the expense of prosecuting such claim, including reasonable attorneys' fees incurred in connection therewith. It shall be a defense to any such action (other than an action brought to enforce a claim for expenses incurred in defending any Proceeding in advance of its final disposition where the required undertaking has been tendered to the Corporation) that such director or officer has not met the standards of conduct which make it permissible under Delaware Law for the Corporation to indemnify him for the amount claimed, but the burden of proving such a defense shall be on the Corporation. Neither the failure of the Corporation (or of its full Board of Directors, its directors who are not parties to the Proceeding with respect to which indemnification is claimed, its stockholders, or independent legal counsel) to have made a determination prior to the commencement of an action pursuant to this Article EIGHTH, Section 2 that indemnification of the director or officer is proper in the circumstances because he has met the applicable standard of conduct set forth in Delaware Law, nor an actual determination by any such person or persons that such director or officer has not met such applicable standard of conduct, shall be a defense to such action or create a presumption that such director or officer has not met the applicable standard of conduct.

 

(3) No director of the Corporation shall be personally liable to the Corporation or its stockholders for monetary damages for any breach of fiduciary duty by such a director as a director. Notwithstanding the foregoing sentence, a director shall be liable to the extent provided by applicable law (i) for any breach of the director's duty of loyalty to the Corporation or is 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 Delaware Law, or (iv) for any transaction from which such director derived an improper personal benefit. No amendment to or repeal of this Article EIGHTH, Section 3 shall apply to or have any effect on the liability or alleged liability of any director of the Corporation for or with respect to any acts or omissions of such director occurring prior to such amendment or repeal. If Delaware Law is amended hereafter to further eliminate or limit the personal liability of directors, the liability of a director of this corporation shall be limited or eliminated to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware Law, as amended.

 

 

 

 

(4) In furtherance and not in limitation of the powers conferred by statute:

 

(a) the Corporation may purchase and maintain insurance on behalf of any person who is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of the Corporation, or is serving at the request of the Corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise against any liability asserted against him and incurred by him in any such capacity, or arising out of his status as such, whether or not the Corporation would have the power to indemnify him against such liability under the provisions of law; and

 

(b) the Corporation may create a trust fund, grant a security interest and/or use other means (including, without limitation, letters of credit, surety bonds and/or other similar arrangements), as well as enter into contracts providing indemnification to the full extent authorized or permitted by law and including as part thereof provisions with respect to any or all of the foregoing to ensure the payment of such amounts as may become necessary to effect indemnification as provided therein, or elsewhere.

 

(5) Rights Not Exclusive. The rights conferred by this Article EIGHTH shall not be exclusive of any other right which the director or officer may have or hereafter acquire under Delaware Law or any other statute, or any provision contained in the Corporation's Certificate of Incorporation or Bylaws, or any agreement, or pursuant to a vote of stockholders or disinterested directors, or otherwise.

 

NINTH: The Corporation reserves the right to amend this Certificate of Incorporation in any manner permitted by Delaware Law and all rights and powers conferred herein on stockholders, directors and officers, if any, are subject to this reserved power.