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Legal Proceedings
9 Months Ended
Nov. 03, 2018
Legal Proceedings [Abstract]  
Legal Proceedings

14. Legal Proceedings



Legal proceedings pending against the Company or its consolidated subsidiaries consist of ordinary, routine litigation, including administrative proceedings, incidental to the business of the Company or businesses that have been sold or discontinued by the Company in past years. These legal proceedings include commercial, intellectual property, customer, environmental, and employment-related claims. Additionally, the Company is a defendant in a purported meal break class action in California and a purported class action in New York alleging failure to pay for all hours worked by employees. The Company and certain officers of the Company are defendants in a purported securities law class action in New York. Additionally, the directors and certain officers of the Company are defendants in related derivative actions.



For the last several years, the Company and the Company’s U.S. retirement plan have been defendants in a class action (Osberg v. Foot Locker Inc. et ano., filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York) in which the plaintiff alleged that, in connection with the 1996 conversion of the retirement plan to a defined benefit plan with a cash balance formula, the Company and the retirement plan failed to properly advise plan participants of the “wear-away” effect of the conversion. In early 2018, the Company exhausted all of its legal remedies and is required to reform the pension plan consistent with the trial court’s decision and judgment. During the second quarter of 2018, the court entered its final judgment, including the ruling on the fairness of the class counsel fees. The amount accrued as of February 3, 2018 was $278 million. During the first quarter of 2018 the amount of the accrual was increased by $7 million related to a change in the estimated value of the judgment, based on additional facts as to how the reformation should be calculated. Additionally, interest of $6 million was accrued during the first and second quarters of 2018 as mandated by the provisions of the required plan reformation, bringing the total amount accrued to $291 million. In June 2018, the Company paid $97 million to class counsel representing the court-approved fees. The remaining balance of $194 million was reclassified to the pension plan obligation in connection with the reformation during the second quarter of 2018.



Management does not believe that the outcome of any such legal proceedings pending against the Company or its consolidated subsidiaries, as described above, would have a material adverse effect on the Company’s consolidated financial position, liquidity, or results of operations, taken as a whole, based upon current knowledge and taking into consideration current accruals. Litigation is inherently unpredictable. Judgments could be rendered or settlements made that could adversely affect the Company’s operating results or cash flows in a particular period.