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Commitments and Contingencies
12 Months Ended
Dec. 28, 2019
Commitments and Contingencies
(12) Commitments and Contingencies
At December 28, 2019, in addition to the $61,503,000 letters of credit secured by investments, Landstar had $34,368,000 of letters of credit outstanding under the Company’s Credit Agreement.
On January 25, 2019, a purported class action was filed in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of San Bernardino against Landstar System, Inc. and Landstar Ranger, Inc. (together, the “Defendants”). The complaint purports to bring this action on behalf of Hany Tanious, as an individual, and “all owner operators who performed work for the Defendants, and who were classified as independent contractors, during the four years preceding the filing of this action through the present.” The complaint asserts claims based on the alleged misclassification of Mr. Tanious as an independent contractor and alleges violations under California law relating to overtime, minimum wage, meal and rest breaks, failure to reimburse certain expenses, wage statements, waiting time and unfair competition. Mr. Tanious was a truck owner-operator and formerly an independent contractor who was a party to an independent contractor operating agreement with Landstar Ranger, Inc. On June 11, 2019, the Defendants filed a Notice of Removal that resulted in the removal of the case from state court to federal court, where it was assigned to Judge Dale S. Fischer of the United State District Court for the Central District of California. On August 22, 2019, the Court issued an order, among other things, striking all class allegations from the complaint and stating that this matter would proceed as an individual action. Due to a number of factors including the preliminary status of this matter, the Company does not believe it is in a position to conclude whether or not there is a reasonable possibility of an adverse outcome in this case or what damages, if any, the plaintiff would be awarded should he prevail on all or any part of his claims. However, the Company believes it has meritorious defenses and it intends to assert these defenses vigorously.
The Company is involved in certain claims and pending litigation 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.