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Contingencies
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2018
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Contingencies
CONTINGENCIES
Litigation, Legal and Other Matters.  The Company and its subsidiaries are subject to complaints and administrative proceedings and are defendants in various civil lawsuits that have arisen in the ordinary course of their businesses, including contract disputes; actions alleging negligence, libel, defamation, invasion of privacy; trademark, copyright and patent infringement; U.S. False Claims Act (False Claims Act) violations; violations of applicable wage and hour laws; and statutory or common law claims involving current and former students and employees. Although the outcomes of the legal claims and proceedings against the Company cannot be predicted with certainty, based on currently available information, management believes that there are no existing claims or proceedings that are likely to have a material effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. However, based on currently available information, management believes it is reasonably possible that future losses from existing and threatened legal, regulatory and other proceedings in excess of the amounts recorded could reach approximately $30 million.
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), a department of the U.K. government responsible for the collection of taxes, has raised assessments against the Kaplan U.K. Pathways business for Value Added Tax (VAT) relating to 2018 and earlier years, which have been paid by Kaplan. Kaplan has challenged these assessments and the case is currently on appeal to a tax tribunal with a hearing expected later in 2018 or 2019. The Company believes it has met all requirements under U.K. VAT law and expects to recover the £12.0 million receivable related to the assessments that have been paid. If the Company does not prevail in this case, a pre-tax charge of £12.0 million will be recorded to operating expense in the Company’s statement of operations.
Department of Education (ED) Program Reviews.  The ED has undertaken program reviews at various KHE locations. On February 23, 2015, the ED began a review of Kaplan University (KU). The review will assess Kaplan’s administration of its Title IV and Higher Education Act programs and will initially focus on the 2013 to 2014 and 2014 to 2015 award years. On December 17, 2015, KU received a notice from the ED that it had been placed on provisional certification status until September 30, 2018, in connection with the open and ongoing ED program review. The ED has not notified KU of any negative findings. However, at this time, Kaplan cannot predict the outcome of this review, when it will be completed or any liability or other limitations that the ED may place on KU as a result of this review.
In addition, there are two open program reviews at campuses that were part of the KHE Campuses business prior to its sale in 2015 to Education Corporation of America (ECA), and we await the ED’s final reports on the program reviews at former KHE Broomall, PA; and Pittsburgh, PA, locations. Kaplan retains responsibility for any financial obligation resulting from the ED program reviews at KU University and KHE Campuses business that were open at the time of sale.
The Company does not expect the open program reviews to have a material impact on KHE; however, the results of open program reviews and their impact on Kaplan’s operations are uncertain.