RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2013

RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

NOTE 13. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

Carl A. Pelzel

        In April 2011, the Company entered into a separation agreement and release with Carl A. Pelzel, the Company's former President and Chief Executive Officer. Pursuant to the separation agreement, Mr. Pelzel was paid $520,000, which is equivalent to one year of his base salary. Payments were made over one year, and were reduced dollar-for-dollar by any compensation Mr. Pelzel received in connection with employment (or full-time consulting) by another employer (or third party). The Company also paid Mr. Pelzel's health and dental insurance COBRA premiums for 18 months following his separation from the Company. The separation agreement further provided for three months' accelerated vesting of Mr. Pelzel's options to purchase the Company's common stock, and a release of claims in favor of the Company. The Company incurred a one-time severance charge of approximately $1.0 million in the second quarter of 2011 with respect to this separation agreement, consisting of approximately $0.4 million in stock-based compensation related to the accelerated vesting of Mr. Pelzel's awards and approximately $0.6 million of severance expense related to future payments and health care benefits.

Burrill Securities

        Burrill Securities acted as a financial advisor to PDL in the PDL transaction. Burrill Securities is the merchant banking division of Burrill & Company. G. Steven Burrill, a member of the Company's Board of Directors (the "Board"), is the Chief Executive Officer and sole shareholder of Burrill & Company. The Board was aware of Burrill & Company's interest in the transaction and Mr. Burrill recused himself from all deliberations and actions taken by the Board with respect to the transaction. Burrill Securities' engagement with PDL in the transaction was led by Fredrick Frank, the Chairman of Burrill Securities and a former member of the Board of Directors of PDL. The Company has been informed that Burrill Securities will receive a fee of up to $500,000 from PDL in connection with the transaction.