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Commitments and Contingencies
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2022
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
Leases
The Company leases its operating and office facilities for various terms under long-term, non-cancelable operating lease agreements in Brisbane, California; Columbus, Ohio; West Chester, Pennsylvania; Flowood, Mississippi; Gaithersburg, Maryland; Omaha, Nebraska; Fremantle, Australia; and Stockholm, Sweden. 
The Company's facility leases expire at various dates through 2033. In the normal course of business, it is expected that these leases will be renewed or replaced by leases on other properties.
As of September 30, 2022, the carrying value of the ROU asset was $35.8 million. The related current and non-current liabilities as of September 30, 2022 were $5.2 million and $34.7 million, respectively. The current and non-current lease liabilities are included in accrued and other current liabilities and operating lease liability, less current portion, respectively, in the condensed consolidated balance sheets.
The following table summarizes the lease cost for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021 (in thousands):
Three Months Ended
September 30,
Nine Months Ended
September 30,
2022202120222021
Operating lease cost$1,955 $1,345 $4,740 $3,757 
Finance lease cost— — — 53 
Total lease cost$1,955 $1,345 $4,740 $3,810 

Finance lease cost includes interest from the lease liability and amortization of the ROU asset.
September 30, 2022
Other information:
Weighted-average remaining lease term - Operating leases (in years)6.47
Weighted-average discount rate - Operating leases (%)7.2 %
In February and June 2022, the Company entered into various lease agreements to lease office buildings in California, Nebraska, and Australia with lease terms ranging from 2 to 10.5 years. Certain leases have options to renew the lease terms ranging from 5 to 10 years.
In June 2022, the Company modified the termination date of the lease agreement for its headquarters in South San Francisco, California from December 31, 2022 to July 15, 2022. As a result, the Company remeasured its lease liability using the current incremental borrowing rate and made an adjustment by reducing the ROU asset and lease liability by $0.5 million.
Lease liabilities for the lease agreements made in February and June 2022 are recognized at the present value of the fixed lease payments using the current incremental borrowing rate at the lease commencement date. ROU assets are recognized based on the initial present value of the fixed lease payments.
As of September 30, 2022, the ROU assets and lease liabilities for lease agreements which commenced in July 2022 aggregated to $14.9 million and $15.7 million, respectively.
As of September 30, 2022, the ROU assets and lease liabilities for lease agreements which commenced in August 2022, amounted to $5.9 million and $6.0 million, respectively.
Maturities of operating lease liabilities as of September 30, 2022 are as follows (in thousands):
Years Ending December 31,Operating Leases
Remainder of 2022$1,736 
20237,749 
20247,849 
20257,599 
20267,019 
Thereafter17,771 
Total lease payments49,723 
Less imputed interest9,802 
Present value of future minimum lease payments39,921 
Less operating lease liability, current portion5,213 
Operating lease liability, long-term portion$34,708 
The following table summarizes the noncash information (in thousands):
Nine Months Ended September 30,
20222021
Supplemental Disclosures of Cash Flow Information:
  Operating lease liabilities arising from obtaining right-of-use assets$21,587 $5,457 
Royalty Commitments
The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University (“Stanford”)
In June 2014, the Company entered into a license agreement with Stanford (the “Stanford License”), which granted the Company an exclusive license to a patent relating to the diagnosis of rejection in organ transplant recipients using dd-cfDNA. Under the terms of the Stanford License, the Company is required to pay an annual license maintenance fee, six milestone payments and royalties in the low single digits of net sales of products incorporating the licensed technology.
Illumina
On May 4, 2018, the Company entered into a license agreement with Illumina, Inc. (the “Illumina Agreement”). The Illumina Agreement requires the Company to pay royalties in the mid-single to low-double digits on sales of products covered by the Illumina Agreement.
Cibiltech Commitments
Pursuant to that certain license and commercialization agreement that the Company entered into with Cibiltech SAS (“Cibiltech”) effective April 30, 2019, the Company will share an agreed-upon percentage of revenue with Cibiltech, if and when revenues are generated from iBox.  
Other Commitments
Pursuant to the Illumina Agreement, the Company has agreed to minimum purchase commitments of finished products and raw materials from Illumina, Inc. through 2023.
Litigation and Indemnification Obligations
In response to the Company's false advertising suit filed against Natera Inc. (“Natera”), on April 10, 2019, Natera filed a counterclaim against the Company on February 18, 2020, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware (the “Court”) alleging the Company made false and misleading claims about the performance capabilities of AlloSure. The suit seeks injunctive relief and unspecified monetary relief. On September 30, 2020, Natera requested leave of Court to amend its counterclaims to include additional allegations regarding purportedly false claims the Company made with respect to AlloSure, and the Court granted Natera’s request. The trial commenced on March 7, 2022 and concluded on March 14, 2022, with the jury awarding the Company $44.9 million in damages, comprised of $21.2 million in compensatory damages and $23.7 million in punitive damages. Post-trial motion practice remains pending. The Company will not record the award until cash is received or the matter is otherwise resolved.
On July 19, 2022, the Federal Circuit court of appeals affirmed the district court’s judgment dismissing the Company’s patent infringement suit against Natera.
In addition, in response to the Company's patent infringement suit filed against Natera on March 26, 2019, Natera filed suit against the Company on January 13, 2020, in the Court alleging, among other things, that AlloSure infringes Natera’s U.S. Patent 10,526,658. This case was consolidated with the Company’s patent infringement suit on February 4, 2020. On March 25, 2020, Natera filed an amendment to the suit alleging, among other things, that AlloSure also infringes Natera’s U.S. Patent 10,597,724. The suit seeks a judgment that the Company has infringed Natera’s patents, an order preliminarily and permanently enjoining the Company from any further infringement of such patents and unspecified damages. On May 13, 2022, Natera filed two new complaints alleging that AlloSure infringes Natera’s U.S. Patents 10,655,180 and 11,111,544. These two cases were consolidated with the patent infringement case on June 15, 2022. On May 17, 2022, Natera agreed to dismiss the case alleging infringement of Natera’s U.S. Patent 10,526,658. On July 6, 2022, the Company moved to dismiss the rest of Natera’s claims. On September 6, 2022, the Company withdrew its motion to dismiss. The Company intends to defend both of these matters vigorously, and believes that the Company has good and substantial defenses to the claims alleged in the suits, but there is no guarantee that the Company will prevail. The Company has not recorded any liabilities for these suits.
United States Department of Justice and United States Securities and Exchange Commission Investigations
As previously disclosed, in 2021, the Company received a civil investigative demand (“CID”) from the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) requesting that the Company produce certain documents in connection with a False Claims Act investigation being conducted by the DOJ regarding certain business practices related to the Company's kidney testing and phlebotomy services, and a subpoena from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) in relation to an investigation by the SEC in respect of matters similar to those identified in the CID, as well as certain of the Company's accounting and public reporting practices. The Company also received an information request from a state regulatory agency and may receive additional requests for information from the DOJ, SEC, or other regulatory and governmental agencies regarding similar or related subject matters. The Company does not believe that the CID, the SEC subpoena or the state regulatory agency information request raise any issues regarding the safety or efficacy of any of the Company's products or services and are cooperating fully with the investigations. Although the Company remains committed to compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, it cannot predict the outcome of the DOJ or SEC investigations, the state regulatory agency information request, or any other requests or investigations that may arise in the future regarding these or other subject matters.
From time to time, the Company may become involved in litigation and other legal actions. The Company estimates the range of liability related to any pending litigation where the amount and range of loss can be estimated. The Company records its best estimate of a loss when the loss is considered probable. Where a liability is probable and there is a range of estimated loss with no best estimate in the range, the Company records a charge equal to at least the minimum estimated liability for a loss contingency when both of the following conditions are met: (i) information available prior to issuance of the condensed consolidated financial statements indicates that it is probable that a liability had been incurred at the date of the condensed consolidated financial statements, and (ii) the range of loss can be reasonably estimated.
Olymbios Matter
On April 15, 2022, a complaint was filed by Michael Olymbios against the Company in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of San Mateo (the “San Mateo County Court”). The complaint alleges that the Company failed to pay certain fees and costs required to continue an arbitration proceeding against Dr. Olymbios, and that the Company has defamed Dr. Olymbios. Dr. Olymbios also seeks to void restrictive covenants previously agreed to by him in favor of the Company and to recover damages purportedly incurred by Dr. Olymbios. The Company filed a motion to compel arbitration and dismiss the case. On April 25, 2022, the San Mateo County Court granted the Company’s ex parte application to stay the case and advance the hearing date to June 10, 2022 for the motion to compel arbitration and dismiss. At the June 10, 2022 hearing, the San Mateo County Court found that the decision should be made by the arbitrator, and stayed the case. On July 19, 2022, Olymbios filed a motion to withdraw from arbitration before JAMS, which was denied on August 18, 2022. The arbitration hearing is currently set for June 26, 2023. The Company intends to defend itself vigorously. The Company believes it has good and substantial defenses to the claims alleged in the suit, but there is no guarantee that the Company will prevail if the case continues. The Company has not recorded any liabilities for this suit.
Securities Class Action
On May 23, 2022, Plumbers & Pipefitters Local Union #295 Pension Fund filed a federal securities class action in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against the Company, Reginald Seeto, its President, Chief Executive Officer and member of the Company’s Board of Directors, Ankur Dhingra, its former Chief Financial Officer, Marcel Konrad, its former interim Chief Financial Officer and former Senior Vice President of Finance & Accounting, and Peter Maag, its former President, former Chief Executive Officer, former Chairman of the Board and current member of the Company’s Board of Directors. The action alleges that the Company and the individual defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or omissions and that such statements violated Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended (the “Exchange Act”), and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder. The action also alleges that the individual defendants are liable pursuant to Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act as controlling persons of the Company. The suit seeks to recover damages caused by the alleged violations of federal securities laws, along with the plaintiffs’ costs incurred in the lawsuit, including their reasonable attorneys’ and experts’ witness fees and other costs.
On August 25, 2022, the court appointed an investor group led by the Oklahoma Police Pension and Retirement System as lead plaintiffs and appointed Saxena White and Robbins Geller as lead counsel. On September 12, 2022, the court entered a schedule pursuant to which Plaintiffs’ amended complaint is due on November 11, 2022; Defendants’ motion to dismiss is due on January 10, 2023; Plaintiffs’ opposition to the motion to dismiss is due on February 24, 2023; and Defendants’ reply is due on March 26, 2023. The Company intends to defend itself vigorously, and believes that the Company has good and substantial defenses to the claims alleged in the suit, but there is no guarantee that the Company will prevail. The Company has not recorded any liabilities for this suit.
Derivative Action
On September 21, 2022, Jeffrey Edelman brought a stockholder derivative action complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against the Company as nominal defendant and Reginald Seeto, its President, Chief Executive Officer and member of the Company’s Board of Directors, Ankur Dhingra, its former Chief Financial Officer, Peter Maag, its former President, former Chief Executive Officer, former Chairman of the Board and current member of the Company’s Board of Directors, and the other members of the Company’s Board of Directors. The plaintiff alleges that the individual defendants breached their fiduciary duties as directors and/or officers of the Company and engaged in insider trading, waste of corporate assets, unjust enrichment and violations of Sections 14(a) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act. The action alleges that the individual defendants are liable pursuant to Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act as controlling persons of the Company. The suit seeks a declaration that the individual defendants breached their fiduciary duties to the Company, violated Sections 14(a) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act and were unjustly enriched, and also seeks to recover damages sustained by the Company as a result of the alleged violations, along with the plaintiff’s costs incurred in the lawsuit, including reasonable attorneys’ and experts’ fees, costs and expenses. The Company intends to defend itself vigorously, and believes that the Company has good and substantial defenses to the claims alleged in the action, but there is no guarantee that the Company will prevail. The Company has not recorded any liabilities for this action.