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Commitments and Contingencies
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2014
Commitments and Contingencies  
Commitments and Contingencies

Note 11 — Commitments and Contingencies

 

Contractual Commitments

 

The Company’s debt facilities which include credit facilities, CDOs, CLOs, senior unsecured notes, junior subordinated notes, notes payable and mortgage notes payable have approximate maturities of $245.0 million in 2014, $252.0 million in 2015, $271.9 million in 2016, $266.6 million in 2017, $21.8 million in 2018 and $234.5 million thereafter.

 

In accordance with certain loans and investments, the Company has outstanding unfunded commitments of $6.3 million as of June 30, 2014 that the Company is obligated to fund as the borrowers meet certain requirements.  Specific requirements include, but are not limited to, property renovations, building construction, and building conversions based on criteria met by the borrower in accordance with the loan agreements.  The Company’s restricted cash balance at June 30, 2014 contained approximately $6.3 million which was available to fund the portion of the unfunded commitments for loans financed by the Company’s CDO and CLO vehicles.

 

Litigation

 

The Company currently is neither subject to any material litigation nor, to management’s knowledge, is any material litigation currently threatened against the Company other than the following:

 

On June 15, 2011, three related lawsuits were filed by the Extended Stay Litigation Trust (the “Trust”), a post-bankruptcy litigation trust alleged to have standing to pursue claims that previously had been held by Extended Stay, Inc. and the Homestead Village L.L.C. family of companies (together “ESI”) (formerly Chapter 11 debtors, together the “Debtors”) that have emerged from bankruptcy.  Two of the lawsuits were filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, and the third in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County.  There were 73 defendants in the three lawsuits, including 55 corporate and partnership entities and 18 individuals.  A subsidiary of the Company and certain other entities that are affiliates of the Company are included as defendants.  The New York State Court action has been removed to the Bankruptcy Court.  The Company’s affiliates filed a motion to dismiss the three lawsuits.

 

The lawsuits all allege, as a factual basis and background certain facts surrounding the June 2007 leveraged buyout of ESI from affiliates of Blackstone Capital.  The Company’s subsidiary, Arbor ESH II, LLC, had a $115.0 million investment in the Series A1 Preferred Units of a holding company of Extended Stay, Inc.  The New York State Court action and one of the two federal court actions name as defendants, Arbor ESH II, LLC, Arbor Commercial Mortgage, LLC and ABT-ESI LLC, an entity in which the Company has a membership interest, among the broad group of defendants.  These two actions were commenced by substantially identical complaints.  The defendants are alleged in these complaints, among other things, to have breached fiduciary and contractual duties by causing or allowing the Debtors to pay illegal dividends or other improper distributions of value at a time when the Debtors were insolvent.  These two complaints also allege that the defendants aided and abetted, induced, or participated in breaches of fiduciary duty, waste, and unjust enrichment (“Fiduciary Duty Claims”) and name a director of the Company, and a former general counsel of Arbor Commercial Mortgage, LLC, each of whom had served on the Board of Directors of ESI for a period of time.  The Company is defending these two defendants and paying the costs of such defense.  On the basis of the foregoing allegations, the Trust has asserted claims under a number of common law theories, seeking the return of assets transferred by the Debtors prior to the Debtors’ bankruptcy filing.

 

In the third action, filed in Bankruptcy Court, the same plaintiff, the Trust, has named Arbor Commercial Mortgage, LLC and ABT-ESI LLC, together with a number of other defendants and asserts claims, including constructive and fraudulent conveyance claims under state and federal statutes, as well as a claim under the Federal Debt Collection Procedure Act.

 

On June 28, 2013, the Trust filed a motion to amend the lawsuits, to, among other things, (i) consolidate the lawsuits into one lawsuit, (ii) remove 47 defendants, none of whom are related to the Company, from the lawsuits so that there are 26 remaining defendants, including 16 corporate and partnership entities and 10 individuals, and (iii) reduce the counts within the lawsuits from over 100 down to 17.  The remaining counts in the amended complaint against affiliates of the Company are principally state law claims for breach of fiduciary duties, waste, unlawful dividends and unjust enrichment, and claims under the Bankruptcy Code for avoidance and recovery actions, among others.  The bankruptcy court granted the motion and the amended complaint has been filed.  The amended complaint seeks $139.0 million in the aggregate from director designees and affiliates of the Company.  The Company has moved to dismiss the referenced actions and intends to vigorously defend against the claims asserted therein.  During a status conference held on March 18, 2014, the Court heard oral argument on the motion to dismiss and adjourned the case pending a ruling.

 

The Company has not made a loss accrual for this litigation because it believes that it is not probable that a loss has been incurred and an amount cannot be reasonably estimated.