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Commitments and Contingencies
9 Months Ended
Sep. 28, 2013
Commitments and Contingencies
(8) Commitments and Contingencies

Short-term investments include $30,477,000 in current maturities of investments and $4,091,000 of cash equivalents held by the Company’s insurance segment at September 28, 2013. The non-current portion of the bond portfolio of $71,806,000 is included in other assets. The short-term investments, together with $31,251,000 of non-current investments, provide collateral for the $59,646,000 of letters of credit issued to guarantee payment of insurance claims. As of September 28, 2013, Landstar also had $34,751,000 of additional letters of credit outstanding under the Company’s Credit Agreement.

As further described in periodic and current reports previously filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), on September 23, 2011, a jury sitting in a state court in Cobb County, Georgia, entered a damage award of approximately $40.2 million (such amount, plus pre-judgment interest, attorney fees and post-judgment interest awarded to the plaintiffs are collectively referred to herein as the “Damage Award”) against Landstar Ranger, Inc., Landstar System Holdings, Inc. and Landstar System, Inc. (the “Landstar Defendants”). The Damage Award arises out of an accident that occurred in February 2007 involving a BCO Independent Contractor leased to Landstar Ranger, Inc. On May 28, 2013, the trial court issued an order denying post-trial motions for directed verdict and a new trial filed by the Landstar Defendants and entered an amended judgment that revised the Damage Award to include approximately $1.0 million of pre-judgment interest, $14.0 million of attorney fees and post-judgment interest at the rate of 6.25% per annum from and after September 23, 2011 on the aggregate sum of approximately $55.2 million awarded to the plaintiffs. Under the terms of the commercial trucking insurance program that Landstar had in place in 2007, Landstar retained liability for up to $5 million with respect to the accident giving rise to the Damage Award. Landstar has third party insurance and/or reinsurance policies in place that are expected to provide coverage for all amounts of the Damage Award in excess of such retention, including all related out-of-pocket expenses, such as the costs of an appeal bond, interest and attorney fees comprising the Damage Award that may be entered by the trial court or an appellate court in the future. The Company recorded a $5 million charge representing its self-insured retention in respect of this accident in the consolidated financial results of the Company in the 2007 first quarter. Accordingly, that portion of the Damage Award has been previously recorded by the Company and therefore did not reduce consolidated operating income or net income for the Company’s 2011 or 2012 fiscal years. Under the terms of the Company’s insurance policies, the Company is the primary obligor of the amount of the Damage Award, and as such, the Company has reported a $60.7 million receivable from the third party insurance providers in other receivables and a corresponding liability of the same amount in insurance claims in the unaudited consolidated balance sheets at September 28, 2013. The Landstar Defendants have filed an appeal of the Damage Award in the Court of Appeals for the State of Georgia and have posted the requisite supersedeas bond. No assurances can be given regarding the outcome of any such appeal, including as to the impact of the Damage Award on the premiums charged by the Company’s third party insurers from time to time for commercial trucking insurance.

The Company is involved in certain claims and pending litigation, including those described herein, arising from the normal conduct of business. Many of these claims are covered in whole or in part by insurance. Based on knowledge of the facts and, in certain cases, opinions of outside counsel, management believes that adequate provisions have been made for probable losses with respect to the resolution of all such claims and pending litigation and that the ultimate outcome, after provisions therefor, will not have a material adverse effect on the financial condition of the Company, but could have a material effect on the results of operations in a given quarter or year.