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Contingencies
3 Months Ended
Feb. 29, 2016
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Contingencies
Contingencies
Litigation
The UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice are investigating allegations that Caribbean Princess breached international pollution laws. We are cooperating with the investigations, including conducting our own internal investigation into the matter. The ultimate outcome of this matter cannot be determined at this time, however, we do not expect it to have a material impact on our results of operations.
As a result of a January 2012 ship incident, litigation claims and investigations, including, but not limited to, those arising from personal injury, loss of or damage to personal property, business interruption losses and environmental damage to any affected coastal waters and the surrounding areas, have been and may be asserted or brought against various parties, including us.  The ultimate outcome of these matters cannot be determined at this time. However, we do not expect these matters to have a significant impact on our results of operations because we have insurance coverage for these types of third-party claims.
Additionally, in the normal course of our business, various claims and lawsuits have been filed or are pending against us. Most of these claims and lawsuits are covered by insurance and, accordingly, the maximum amount of our liability, net of any insurance recoverables, is typically limited to our self-insurance retention levels. Management believes the ultimate outcome of these claims and lawsuits will not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.
Contingent Obligations – Lease Out and Lease Back Type (“LILO”) Transactions
At February 29, 2016, Carnival Corporation had estimated contingent obligations totaling $359 million, excluding termination payments as discussed below, to participants in LILO transactions for two of its ships. At the inception of these leases, the aggregate of the net present value of these obligations was paid by Carnival Corporation to a group of major financial institutions, who agreed to act as payment undertakers and directly pay these obligations. As a result, these contingent obligations are considered extinguished and neither the funds nor the contingent obligations have been included in our Consolidated Balance Sheets.
In the event that Carnival Corporation were to default on its contingent obligations and assuming performance by all other participants, we estimate that it would, as of February 29, 2016, be responsible for a termination payment of $13 million. In January 2016, Carnival Corporation elected to exercise its options to terminate each of these LILO transactions on January 1, 2017 for one ship and January 1, 2018 for the other, at no cost to it.
If the credit rating of one of the financial institutions who is directly paying the contingent obligations falls below AA-, or below A- for the other financial institution, then Carnival Corporation will be required to replace the applicable financial institution with another financial institution whose credit rating is at least AA or meets other specified credit requirements. In such circumstances, it would incur additional costs, although we estimate that they would not be significant to our consolidated financial statements. The financial institution payment undertaker subject to the AA- credit rating threshold has a credit rating of AA, and the financial institution subject to the A- credit rating threshold has a credit rating of A+. If Carnival Corporation's credit rating, which is BBB+, falls below BBB, it will be required to provide a standby letter of credit for $26 million, or, alternatively, provide mortgages for this aggregate amount on these two ships.
Contingent Obligations – Indemnifications
Some of the debt contracts that we enter into include indemnification provisions that obligate us to make payments to the counterparty if certain events occur. These contingencies generally relate to changes in taxes and changes in laws that increase lender capital costs and other similar costs. The indemnification clauses are often standard contractual terms and were entered into in the normal course of business. There are no stated or notional amounts included in the indemnification clauses, and we are not able to estimate the maximum potential amount of future payments, if any, under these indemnification clauses. We have not been required to make any material payments under such indemnification clauses in the past and, under current circumstances, we do not believe a request for material future indemnification payments is probable.