In my case the contract language scared me off from using an epigraph that I'd written some of the text around. It was clear that I'd be on my own dealing with the TS Eliot estate.

Yeah. Have a similar story with “fighting the ferocious estate of Joyce Grenfell…”

That's always what the contract says, yeah, 'if someone sues it's all on you'. In practice ... you might get some help, depending on the circumstances.