Commitments and Contingencies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Notes To Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments and Contingencies

Legal Proceedings

In the ordinary course of business, we are routinely defendants in, or party to a number of pending and threatened legal actions. These may involve litigation by or against us relating to, among other things, contractual rights under vendor, insurance or other contracts; intellectual property or patent rights; equipment, service, payment or other disputes with customers; or disputes with employees. Some of these actions may be brought as a purported class action on behalf of a purported class of employees, customers or others.

Our wholly owned subsidiary, Imagitas, Inc., was a defendant in several purported class actions initially filed in six different states. These lawsuits were coordinated in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, In re: Imagitas, Driver’s Privacy Protection Act Litigation (Coordinated, May 28, 2007). Each of these lawsuits alleged that the Imagitas DriverSource program violated the federal Drivers Privacy Protection Act (DPPA). Under the DriverSource program, Imagitas entered into contracts with state governments to mail out automobile registration renewal materials along with third party advertisements, without revealing the personal information of any state resident to any advertiser. The DriverSource program assisted the state in performing its governmental function of delivering these mailings and funding the costs of them. The plaintiffs in these actions were seeking statutory damages under the DPPA. On December 21, 2009, the Eleventh Circuit Court affirmed the District Court’s summary judgment decision in Rine, et al. v. Imagitas, Inc. (United States District Court, Middle District of Florida, filed August 1, 2006) which ruled in Imagitas’ favor and dismissed that litigation. That decision is now final, with no further appeals available. With respect to the remaining state cases, on December 30, 2011, the District Court ruled in Imagitas’ favor and dismissed the litigation. Plaintiff filed a notice of appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. On April 2, 2012, the parties agreed to resolve the matter. The remaining plaintiffs have dismissed their appeal and Imagitas has withdrawn a Motion for Taxation of Costs. This litigation is now concluded with no payments made by Imagitas to plaintiffs.

On October 28, 2009, the company and certain of its current and former officers were named as defendants in NECA-IBEW Health & Welfare Fund v. Pitney Bowes Inc. et al., a class action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.  The complaint asserts claims under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 on behalf of those who purchased the common stock of the company during the period between July 30, 2007 and October 29, 2007 alleging that the company, in essence, missed two financial projections.  Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint on September 20, 2010. After briefing on the motion to dismiss was completed, the plaintiffs filed a new amended complaint on February 17, 2012. We have moved to dismiss this new amended complaint. Based upon our current understanding of the facts and applicable laws, we do not believe there is a reasonable possibility that any loss will be been incurred.

We expect to prevail in the legal actions above; however, as litigation is inherently unpredictable, there can be no assurance in this regard. If the plaintiffs do prevail, the results may have a material effect on our financial position, future results of operations or cash flows.