Commitments and Contingencies

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2022

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

(A)  Legal Proceedings

In the normal course of business, the Company is involved or may become involved in various legal actions in which claims for alleged economic and punitive damages have been or may be asserted, some for substantial amounts. In recent years, carriers offering life insurance and annuity products have faced litigation, including class action lawsuits, alleging improper product design, improper sales practices, and similar claims. As previously disclosed, the Company has been a defendant in prior years in such class action lawsuits. Given the uncertainty involved in these types of actions, the ability to make a reliable evaluation of the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome or an estimate of the amount of or range of potential loss is endemic to the particular circumstances and evolving developments of each individual matter on its own merits.

In April of 2019, National Western defended a two-week jury trial in which it was alleged that it committed actionable Financial Elder Abuse in its issuance of a $100,000 equity indexed annuity to the Plaintiff in the case of Williams v Pantaleoni et al, Case No. 17CV03462, Butte County California Superior Court. The Court entered an Amended Judgment on the Jury Verdict on July 27, 2019 against National Western in the amount of $14,949 for economic damages and $2.9 million in non-economic and punitive damages. National Western vigorously disputes the verdicts and the amounts awarded, and in furtherance of such, filed a Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding Jury Verdict and a Motion for New Trial, both of which were rejected by the Court. On September 9, 2019, NWLIC filed its Notice of Appeal. On November 11, 2019, the judge awarded the Plaintiff attorney’s fees in the amount of $1.26 million. Both the Plaintiff and NWLIC appealed this ruling. On June 11, 2021, the appellate court reversed the judgment and directed the trial court to enter judgment in favor of NWLIC. Plaintiff has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of California. On September 22, 2021, the California Supreme Court granted review and transferred the case back to the appellate court with instructions to vacate its decision and reconsider its finding that Mr. Pantaleoni did not have an agency relationship with NWLIC. On March 4, 2022, the appellate court filed an opinion completely striking the award of punitive damages that had been in the amount of $2.5 million, affirming economic damages of $14,949 and non-economic damages of $420,000, and awarding Plaintiff costs on appeal. The appellate court remanded the case to the trial court to reconsider the attorney fee award of $1.26 million in light of the reversal of punitive damages. Upon petitions for rehearing separately filed by both parties, the appellate court vacated its March 4th decision. On May 10, 2022, the appellate court filed its new opinion once again completely striking the award of punitive damages that had been in the amount of $2.5 million, affirming economic damages of $14,949 and non-economic damages of $420,000, and awarding Plaintiff costs on appeal. The appellate court again remanded the case to the trial court to reconsider the attorney fee award of $1.26 million in light of the reversal of punitive damages. National Western has filed a petition for review with the California Supreme Court.

In the Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2020, the Company reported that it experienced a data event in which an intruder accessed and exfiltrated certain data from the Company's network. As a result of this event, the Company reported in its Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, that it was aware of two proposed class actions filed against National Western, Mildred Baldwin, on behalf of herself and others similarly situated vs. National Western Life Insurance Company, Missouri Circuit Court for the 18th Judicial Circuit (Pettis County) filed February 16, 2021, and Douglas Dyrssen Sr., individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated vs. National Western Life Insurance Company and National Western Life Group, Inc., United States District Court for the Eastern District of California filed March 8, 2021. The parties agreed to consolidate those two proposed class actions into a single proposed class action, Mildred Baldwin, on behalf of herself and others similarly situated vs. National Western Life Insurance Company, United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri. At a mediation held on October 12, 2021, the parties agreed on preliminary terms to settle the litigation. The parties filed a Joint Notice of Settlement and Motion to Stay Deadlines with the court on October 20, 2021. The Court issued an order granting final approval of the settlement on June 16, 2022. The Company previously accrued amounts sufficient to cover the ultimate payments due under the settlement terms.

Although there can be no assurances, at the present time, the Company does not anticipate that the ultimate liability arising from such other potential, pending, or threatened legal actions will have a material adverse effect on the financial condition or operating results of the Company.

Separately, in 2015 Brazilian authorities commenced an investigation into possible violations of Brazilian criminal law in connection with the issuance of National Western insurance policies to Brazilian residents, and in assistance of such investigation a Commissioner appointed by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas issued a subpoena in March of 2015 upon NWLIC to provide information relating to such possible violations. National Western cooperated with the relevant governmental authorities in regard to this matter. No conclusion can be drawn at this time as to its outcome or how such outcome may impact the Company’s business, results of operations or financial condition.

(B) Financial Instruments

In order to meet the financing needs of its customers in the normal course of business, the Company is a party to financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk. These financial instruments are commitments to extend credit which involve elements of credit and interest rate risk in excess of the amounts recognized in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets.

The Company's exposure to credit loss in the event of nonperformance by the other party to the financial instrument for commitments to extend credit is represented by the contractual amounts, assuming that the amounts are fully advanced and that collateral or other security is of no value. Commitments to extend credit are legally binding agreements to lend to a customer that generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses and may require payment of a fee. Commitments do not necessarily represent future liquidity requirements, as some could expire without being drawn upon. The Company uses the same credit policies in making commitments and conditional obligations as it does for on-balance sheet instruments. The Company controls the credit risk of these transactions through credit approvals, limits, and monitoring procedures.

The Company had no commitments to fund new loans and $11.3 million commitments to extend credit relating to existing loans at June 30, 2022. The Company evaluates each customer's creditworthiness on a case-by-case basis. The Company had commitments to make capital contributions to alternative investment debt and equity funds of $355.0 million as of June 30, 2022. The Company had no commitments to extend credit relating to revolving credit facilities at June 30, 2022.