Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Commitments and Contingencies [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies

18. Commitments and Contingencies:

On May 5, 2020, a lawsuit styled Schulze v. Hallmark Financial Services, Inc., et al. (Case No. 3:20-cv-01130) was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division (the “Schulze Matter”). The Company, its Chief Executive Officer and its former Chief Financial Officer are named defendants in the lawsuit brought on behalf of a putative class of shareholders who acquired Hallmark securities between March 5, 2019 and March 17, 2020. In general, the complaint alleges that the defendants violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by failing to disclose that (a) the Company lacked effective internal controls over financial reporting related to its reserves for unpaid losses, (b) the Company improperly accounted for reserves for unpaid losses, (c) the Company would be forced to report $63.8 million of prior year net adverse loss development, (d) the Company would exit the contract binding line of its commercial automobile primary insurance business, and by making positive statements about the Company’s business, operations and prospects that were allegedly materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis. On July 21, 2020, the court appointed Rajeev Yalamanchili as Lead Plaintiff.  Lead Plaintiff filed an Amended Complaint on September 30, 2020.  The litigation is in its initial stages. The Company’s current policy is to expense legal costs as incurred. Historically, the Company has not carried director and officer liability insurance and does not currently hold such a policy.

From time to time, assessments are levied on us by the guaranty association of the states where we offer our insurance products. Such assessments are made primarily to cover the losses of policyholders of insolvent or rehabilitated insurers. Since these assessments can generally be recovered through a reduction in future premium taxes paid, we capitalize the assessments that can be recovered as they are paid and amortize the capitalized balance against our premium tax expense. We did not pay an assessment during 2020 and 2019.  

As of December 31, 2020 we were engaged in various legal proceedings in the ordinary course of business, none of which, either individually or in the aggregate, are believed likely to have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position or results of operations, in the opinion of management. The various legal proceedings to which we were a party are routine in nature and incidental to our business.