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Note 13 - Deferred Compensation Retirement Plans
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2013
Disclosure Text Block Supplement [Abstract]  
Compensation and Employee Benefit Plans [Text Block]

13.          Deferred Compensation Retirement Plans


Effective August 1, 2008, the Company entered into amended and restated employment agreements (as amended on March 8, 2012, the “Employment Agreements”) with Larry A. Mizel, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, and David D. Mandarich, President and Chief Operating Officer (collectively, the “Executive Officers”), which provided certain annual post-retirement pension benefits (the “Retirement Benefits”) depending on the year of retirement. In response to concerns expressed by significant institutional investors, and in accordance with the recommendation of an independent compensation consultant to the Company’s Compensation Committee, the Company announced that it had reached agreements (collectively, the “Second Amendments”) with the Executive Officers for the early termination, effective on October 18, 2013, of the Retirement Benefits contained in their respective Employment Agreements. Pursuant to the Second Amendments, the Company will pay each of Mr. Mizel and Mr. Mandarich a deferred lump sum in the amount of $14.8 million and $16.0 million, respectively, in full satisfaction of their past, present and future Retirement Benefits. The Company’s termination of the Retirement Benefits is irrevocable. These payments, which equal the amounts accrued on the books of the Company as of June 30, 2013 with respect to the Company’s estimated liability to pay Retirement Benefits, will be made to the Executive Officers on October 20, 2014. As a result of the termination of the Retirement Benefits, the Company will no longer incur ongoing Retirement Benefit accruals.


The deductibility of the Second Amendment payments for tax purposes under Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) Section 162(m) will be determined at the end of the taxable year in which the payments are made. However, because the Company believes that it is more likely than not that the payments will not be deductible, we wrote off approximately $11.9 million of our deferred tax asset. Whether or not the payments are deductible under IRC Section 162(m), the Board of Directors believed that the early termination of the Retirement Benefits was in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders.