Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments and Contingencies

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 clients; or disputes with employees. Some of these actions may be brought as a purported class action on behalf of a purported class of employees, clients or others. In management's opinion, it is not reasonably possible that the potential liability, if any, that may result from these actions, either individually or collectively, will have a material effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows. However, as litigation is inherently unpredictable, there can be no assurances in this regard.

In August 2018, the Company, certain of its directors, officers and several banks who served as underwriters, were named as defendants in City of Livonia Retiree Health and Disability Benefits Plan v. Pitney Bowes Inc. et al., a putative class action lawsuit filed in Connecticut state court. The complaint asserts claims under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, on behalf of those who purchased notes issued by the Company in connection with a September 13, 2017 offering, alleging, among other things, that the Company failed to make certain disclosures relating to components of its third quarter 2017 performance at the time of the notes offering. The complaint seeks compensatory damages and other relief. On October 24, 2019, the court granted the defendants' motions to strike the complaint for failure to state a claim, and the time for plaintiff to appeal or amend the complaint has expired.

In addition, in December 2018 and then in February 2019, certain of the Company’s officers and directors were named as defendants in two virtually identical derivative actions purportedly brought on behalf of the Company, Clem v. Lautenbach et al. and Devolin v. Lautenbach et al. These two actions, both filed by the same counsel in Connecticut state court, allege, among other things, breaches of fiduciary duty relating to these same disclosures, and seek compensatory damages and other relief derivatively for the benefit of the Company. Defendants have moved to dismiss these actions; given that the defendants have prevailed in the Livonia action, plaintiffs in these cases have conceded that these cases should be dismissed.

On October 12, 2019, we were affected by a ransomware attack that temporarily disrupted customer access to some services. Our financial information was not affected and there is no evidence that any sensitive or confidential company, client, consumer or employee data was improperly accessed or extracted from our network. The backup data storage systems for virtually all our client, employee and other business data were also not affected. Our financial results were impacted by this attack, primarily as a result of business interruption, incremental costs related to the attack and costs to enhance our cybersecurity protections, and our financial results may be impacted in the future. We have insurance related to this event and expect a portion of any profit impact, including the profit associated with any loss of revenue, to ultimately be covered by insurance. We are working closely with our carriers; however, we are currently not able to reasonably estimate the amount of proceeds we will receive.