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Legal Proceedings
12 Months Ended
Jan. 30, 2016
Legal Proceedings [Abstract]  
Legal Proceedings

23. 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 disposed of by the Company in past years. These legal proceedings include commercial, intellectual property, customer, environmental, and employment-related claims.

 

The Company and the Company’s U.S. retirement plan are 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 alleges 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. Plaintiff’s claims were for breach of fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, and violation of the statutory provisions governing the content of the Summary Plan Description. The trial was held in July 2015 and the court issued a decision in September 2015 in favor of the class on the foregoing claims. The court ordered that the Plan be reformed. The Company is appealing the court’s decision, and the judgment has been stayed pending the outcome of the appeal. As a result of this development, the Company has determined that it is probable a liability exists. The Company’s reasonable estimate of this liability is a range between $100 million and $200 million, with no amount within that range more probable than any other amount. Therefore, in accordance with U.S. GAAP, the Company recorded a charge of $100 million pre-tax ($61 million after-tax) in the third quarter of 2015. This amount has been classified as a long-term liability. The Company will continue to vigorously defend itself in this case. In light of the uncertainties involved in this matter, there is no assurance that the ultimate resolution will not differ from the amount currently accrued by the Company. 

  

Certain of the Company’s subsidiaries were defendants in a number of lawsuits filed in state and federal courts containing various class action allegations under federal or state wage and hour laws, including allegations concerning unpaid overtime, meal and rest breaks, and uniforms. In Pereira v. Foot Locker, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the plaintiff alleged that the Company permitted unpaid off-the-clock hours in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and state labor laws and sought compensatory and punitive damages, injunctive relief, and attorneys’ fees and costs. Additional purported wage and hour class actions were filed against the Company that asserted claims similar to those asserted in Pereira and sought similar remedies. With the exception of Hill v. Foot Locker filed in state court in Illinois, Kissinger v. Foot Locker filed in state court in California, and Cortes v. Foot Locker filed in federal court in New York, all of these actions were consolidated by the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation with Pereira under the caption In re Foot Locker, Inc.  Fair Labor Standards Act and Wage and Hour Litigation, (“Consolidated Cases”).

 

The Company and plaintiffs entered into a settlement agreement resolving the Consolidated Cases and Hill that was approved by the court during the second quarter of 2015. Additionally, during the third quarter of 2015, the Company and plaintiffs in Cortes and Kissinger entered into settlement agreements that have also been approved by the respective courts.

 

Management does not believe that the outcome of any such legal proceedings pending against the Company or its consolidated subsidiaries, including Osberg, 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, and judgments could be rendered or settlements entered into that could adversely affect the Company’s operating results or cash flows in a particular period.