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Commitments and Contingencies
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2024
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies
11.
Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments

Real Estate Development Commitments

As of March 31, 2024, the Company has both consolidated and unconsolidated real estate projects under development. The following table summarizes the gross remaining total project costs for the Company’s projects under development at March 31, 2024 (total project costs remaining in thousands):

 

 

 

Projects

 

 

Apartment Units

 

 

Total Project Costs Remaining (1)

 

Projects Under Development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consolidated

 

 

2

 

 

 

665

 

 

$

229,064

 

Unconsolidated

 

 

6

 

 

 

1,982

 

 

 

96,303

 

Total Projects Under Development

 

 

8

 

 

 

2,647

 

 

$

325,367

 

 

(1)
The Company’s share of the $325.4 million in total project costs remaining approximates $229.5 million, with the balance funded by the Company’s joint venture partners (approximately $0.2 million) and/or applicable construction loans (approximately $95.7 million).

We have entered into, and may continue in the future to enter into, joint venture agreements with third-party partners for the development of multifamily rental properties. The joint venture agreements with each development partner include buy-sell provisions that provide the right, but not the obligation, for the Company to acquire each respective partner’s interests or sell its interests at any time following the occurrence of certain pre-defined events described in the joint venture agreements. See Note 5 for additional discussion.

Other Commitments

We have entered into, and may continue in the future to enter into, real estate technology and other real estate fund investments. As of March 31, 2024, the Company has invested in ten separate such investments totaling $40.0 million with aggregate remaining commitments of approximately $18.0 million.

Contingencies

Litigation and Legal Matters

The Company, as an owner of real estate, is subject to various federal, state and local laws. Compliance by the Company with existing laws has not had a material adverse effect on the Company. However, the Company cannot predict the impact of new or

changed laws or regulations on its current properties or on properties that it may acquire in the future.

The Company is involved in various pending and threatened legal proceedings which arise in the ordinary course of business. The Company evaluates these litigation matters on an ongoing basis, but in no event less than quarterly, in assessing the adequacy of its accruals and disclosures. For legal proceedings in which it has been determined that a loss is both probable and reasonably estimable, the Company records new accruals and/or adjusts existing accruals that represent its best estimate of the loss incurred based on the facts and circumstances known at that time. As of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the Company’s litigation accruals approximated $45.6 million and $17.1 million, respectively, and are included in other liabilities in the consolidated balance sheets. Actual losses may differ materially from the amounts noted above and the ultimate outcome of these legal proceedings is generally not yet determinable. As of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the Company does not believe there is any litigation pending or threatened against it that, either individually or in the aggregate and inclusive of the matters accrued for as noted above, may reasonably be expected to have a material adverse effect on the Company and its financial condition.

The Company has been named as a defendant in a number of cases filed in late 2022 and 2023 alleging antitrust violations by RealPage, Inc., a seller of revenue management software products, and various owners and/or operators of multifamily housing, including us, that have utilized these products. The complaints allege collusion among the defendants to illegally fix and inflate the pricing of multifamily rents and seek monetary damages, injunctive relief, fees and costs. All of the cases except for one have been consolidated into a single putative class action in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. On December 28, 2023, motions to dismiss this consolidated action, filed by RealPage, Inc. as well as us and our multifamily co-defendants, were denied by the Court and the case is proceeding. Another case with similar allegations has been filed by the District of Columbia against RealPage, Inc. and a number of multifamily owners and/or operators, including us. We believe these various lawsuits are without merit and we intend to vigorously defend against them. As these proceedings are in the early stages, it is not possible for the Company to predict the outcome nor is it possible to estimate the amount of loss, if any, which may be associated with an adverse decision in any of these cases.

The Company is named as a defendant in a class action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California filed in 2016 which alleges that the amount of late fees charged by the Company were improperly determined under California law. The plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages and other relief. On April 8, 2024, the Court issued certain findings of facts and conclusions of law that are adverse to the Company’s legal position. At this time, the Company is continuing to defend the action. While the resolution of this matter cannot be predicted with certainty, the Company does not believe that the eventual outcome will have a material adverse effect on the Company and its financial condition.