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COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
3 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011
Notes to Financial Statements  
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

 

G. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

 

Lease Agreement - In August 2007, the Company leased a building near Baltimore, Maryland. The building, which consists of approximately 73,000 square feet, was remodeled in accordance with the Company’s specifications so that it can be used by the Company to manufacture Multikine for the Company’s Phase III clinical trial and sales of the drug if approved by the FDA. The lease is for a term of twenty years and required an annual base rent payments of $1,575,000 during the first year of the lease. The annual base rent escalates each year at 3%. The Company is also required to pay all real and personal property taxes, insurance premiums, maintenance expenses, repair costs and utilities. The lease allows the Company, at its election, to extend the lease for two ten-year periods or to purchase the building at the end of the 20-year lease. The lease required the Company to pay $3,150,000 towards the remodeling costs, which will be recouped by reductions in the annual base rent of $303,228 in years six through twenty of the lease, subject to the Company maintaining compliance with the lease covenants. On January 24, 2008, a second amendment to the lease for the manufacturing facility was signed. In accordance with the amendment, the Company was required to pay the following: 1) an additional $518,790 for movable equipment, which increased restricted cash, and 2) an additional $1,295,528 into the escrow account to cover additional costs, which increased deferred rent. These funds were transferred in early February 2008. In April 2008, an additional $288,474 was paid toward the completion of the manufacturing facility. The Company took possession of the manufacturing facility in October of 2008. An additional $505,225 was paid for the completion of the work on the manufacturing facility in October 2008.

 

In December 2008, the Company was not in compliance with certain lease requirements (i.e., failure to pay an installment of Base Annual Rent). However, the landlord did not declare the Company to be in default under the terms of the lease, but instead renegotiated the lease. In January 2009, as part of an amended lease agreement on the manufacturing facility, the Company repriced the 3,000,000 warrants initially issued to the landlord in July 2007 at $1.25 per share with an expiration date of July 12, 2013. These warrants were repriced at $0.75 per share and expire on January 26, 2014. The cost of this repricing and extension of the warrants was $70,515. In addition, 787,500 additional warrants were given to the landlord of the manufacturing facility on the same date. These warrants are exercisable at $0.75 per share and will expire on January 26, 2014. The cost of these warrants was $45,207. All back rent was paid to the landlord in early July 2009. During the three months ended June 30, 2009, the Company issued the landlord an additional 2,296,875 warrants in accordance with an amendment to the agreement. These warrants were issued at a price of $0.75 and will expire between March 31, 2014 and June 30, 2014. These warrants were valued at $251,172 using the Black Scholes method. These warrants are included in the private investor warrants in the Stockholder Equity section (Note C, Reference 4). The Company was then in compliance with the lease and, in February 2010, received a refund of the $1,575,000 additional deposit placed with the landlord in July 2008. In August 2011, the Company’s minimum cash balances were less than required by the lease. The Company paid an additional deposit of $1,670,917 to the landlord.

 

On January 28, 2009, the Company subleased a portion of the manufacturing facility. The sublease commenced on February 2, 2009 and ended in July 2010. The Company received $10,300 per month in rent for the subleased space. On December 7, 2011, the Company entered into another sublease for a period of four months commencing on December 10, 2011. The Company receives $5,000 per month in rent for the subleased space.

 

The Company began amortizing the deferred rent on the building on October 7, 2008, the day that the Company took possession of the building. The amortization of the deferred rent for the three months ended December 31, 2011 was $178,951. The amortization of the deferred rent for the three months ended December 31, 2010 was $191,890.

 

MLV Agreement - On December 10, 2010, the Company entered into a sales agreement with McNicoll Lewis & Vlak, LLC (MLV) relating to shares of common stock which have been registered by means of a shelf registration statement filed in July 2009. The Company may offer and sell shares of its common stock, having an aggregate offering price of up to $30 million from time to time through MLV acting as agent and/or principal.

 

Sales of the Company’s common stock, if any, may be made in sales deemed to be “at-the-market” equity offerings as defined in Rule 415 promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, including sales made directly on or through the NYSE Amex, the existing trading market for the Company’s common stock, sales made to or through a market maker other than on an exchange or otherwise, in negotiated transactions at market prices prevailing at the time of sale or at prices related to such prevailing market prices, and/or any other method permitted by law. MLV will act as sales agent on a best efforts basis. The Company is not required to sell any shares to MLV and MLV is not required to sell any shares on the Company’s behalf or purchase any of our shares for its own account.

 

MLV was entitled to a commission in an amount equal to the greater of 3% of the gross proceeds from each sale of the shares, or $0.025 for each share sold, provided, that, in no event would MLV receive a commission greater than 8.0% of the gross proceeds from the sale of the shares. During the three months ended December 31, 2011, the Company sold no shares of common stock to MLV. During the three months ended December 31, 2010, the Company sold 705,839 shares of common stock to MLV for $674,739, less commissions and fees of $20,515. The agreement with MLV was terminated in December 2011.

 

Settlement - On May 16, 2011, CEL-SCI entered into an Exchange Agreement (referred to herein as the "Settlement Agreement") with thirteen hedge funds (the "plaintiffs") to settle all claims arising from a lawsuit initiated by the plaintiffs in October 2009 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the "Court"). As previously disclosed by CEL-SCI in its public filings, in August 2006 the plaintiffs (or their predecessors) purchased from CEL-SCI Series K notes convertible into CEL-SCI common stock and Series K warrants to purchase CEL-SCI common stock under financing agreements which provided the Series K notes and warrants with anti-dilution protection if CEL-SCI sold additional shares of common stock, or securities convertible into common stock, at a price below the then applicable conversion price of the notes or the exercise price of the warrants. In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that a March 2009 drug marketing and distribution agreement in which CEL-SCI sold units of common stock and warrants to an unrelated third party triggered these anti-dilution provisions, and that CEL-SCI failed to give effect to these provisions. The plaintiffs sought $30 million in actual damages, $90 million in punitive damages, the issuance of additional shares of common stock and warrants, and a reduction in the conversion price of the Series K notes and the exercise price of the Series K warrants. CEL-SCI denied the plaintiffs' allegations in the lawsuit and asserted that the 2009 agreement was a strategic transaction which did not trigger the anti-dilution provisions of the 2006 financing agreements.

 

Although the Company vigorously defended the lawsuit and believed the plaintiffs' claims were without merit, the Company believed that a settlement of this lawsuit was in the best interests of the shareholders. The settlement was entered into to avoid the substantial costs of further litigation and the risk and uncertainty that the litigation entails. By ending this dispute, and ending the significant demands on the time and attention of the Company's management necessary to respond to the litigation, the Company is better able to focus on executing its ongoing Phase III clinical trial with its novel and non-toxic cancer drug Multikine.

 

Under the terms of the Settlement Agreement and its related agreements, the plaintiffs and CEL-SCI terminated the pending litigation and released each other from all claims each may have had against the other, with certain customary exceptions. CEL-SCI agreed to make a $3 million cash payment and issue $9 million of securities to the plaintiffs. These securities consist of senior secured convertible promissory notes with an aggregate principal amount of $4.95 million and 4,050 shares of redeemable Series A Convertible Preferred Stock with an aggregate stated value of $4.05 million. The $3 million cash payment was made at the closing under the Settlement Agreement. The 4,050 shares of stock were redeemed during the year ended September 30, 2011. The first two installments on the convertible promissory notes, along with secured interest were paid during the three months ended December 31, 2011. Principal payments totaled $1,980,000 and $177,100 of interest was paid during the three months ended December 31, 2011. As of February 6, 2012, the outstanding principal amount of the convertible notes was $134,163. The final payment will be made on March 1, 2012. As these installments of the principal amount of the notes and the stated value of the preferred shares are paid down, or as the notes or the preferred shares are converted by the holders into common stock, the initial $9 million due (plus interest and dividends) will be proportionately reduced until the notes are fully paid or converted and the preferred shares are fully redeemed or converted. CEL-SCI has pledged all of its assets as collateral for the repayment of these obligations. While the notes and preferred shares are outstanding, CEL-SCI is generally prohibited from paying dividends, incurring new debt or making any payments (other than interest) on existing debt, and is subject to certain restrictions on the transfer of its assets

 

The notes and the Series A preferred shares are be convertible, at the option of the holder, into CEL-SCI common stock at a fixed price of $0.67 per share. The conversion price represented the most recent consolidated closing sale price of the common stock on the NYSE AMEX at the time the settlement agreement was signed by the parties. The plaintiffs have agreed to restrictions on their ability to effect short sales of the common stock based on the number of warrants and common shares they hold, but excluding shares issuable upon the conversion of the notes and preferred shares. The plaintiffs have further agreed to permit an independent accounting firm to review their trading records every three months to confirm their compliance with these restrictions. No preferred shares were converted. Through December 31, 2011, no convertible notes were converted into common stock.

 

The parties' respective obligations under the Settlement Agreement, including CEL-SCI's obligation to pay cash and issue notes and preferred shares to the plaintiffs, were subject to obtaining the approval by the Court of an order exempting the issuance to the plaintiffs of the notes and preferred shares from registration under Section 3(a)(10) of the Securities Act of 1933. This was to permit the notes and preferred shares, and the shares of common stock issuable upon conversion thereof, to be freely tradable.

 

As a condition of the settlement agreement, all claims against the Company were dismissed. As a result, the $81,395 overpayment by one of the claimants was dismissed and the liability was written off during the three months ended June 30, 2011.