Litigation Contingencies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Litigation Contingencies [Abstract]

Litigation Contingencies

Note L – Litigation Contingencies

On January 25, 2010, Harte-Hanks Shoppers, Inc. (Shoppers), a California corporation and a subsidiary of Harte-Hanks, Inc. (Harte-Hanks), reached an agreement in principle with Shoppers employee Frank Gattuso and former employee Ernest Sigala, individually and on behalf of a certified class, to settle and resolve a previously disclosed class action lawsuit filed in 2001 (Frank Gattuso et al. v. Harte-Hanks Inc. et al., as further described below). During the fourth quarter of 2009 we accrued the full $7.0 million associated with this agreement. This agreement in principle was reduced to a class settlement agreement executed by the parties, and received final approval from the court on May 26, 2011. Pursuant to the settlement agreement, Shoppers paid $7.0 million to establish the class settlement fund in June of 2011. In return, each member of the class, including Gattuso and Sigala, released all claims against Shoppers and its affiliates that in any way arose from or related to the matters which were the subject of, or could have been the subject of, the claims alleged in the class action lawsuit. Based upon the claims received from the class members, we reduced the accrual by $0.8 million in the first quarter of 2011 and $0.5 million in the second quarter of 2011. Payments under the class settlement agreement from the class settlement fund concluded in August 2011, and at that time $1.3 million of unclaimed funds reverted back to Shoppers.

We are also currently subject to various other legal proceedings in the course of conducting our businesses and, from time to time, we may become involved in additional claims and lawsuits incidental to our businesses. In the opinion of management, after consultation with counsel, none of these matters is currently considered to be reasonably possible of resulting in a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position or results of operations. Nevertheless, we cannot predict the impact of future developments affecting our pending or future claims and lawsuits and any resolution of a claim or lawsuit within a particular fiscal quarter may adversely impact our results of operations for that quarter. We expense legal costs as incurred, and all recorded legal liabilities are adjusted as required as better information becomes available to us. The factors we consider when recording an accrual for contingencies include, among others: (i) the opinions and views of our legal counsel; (ii) our previous experience; and (iii) the decision of our management as to how we intend to respond to the complaints.