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Commitments and Contingencies
6 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2013
Commitments and Contingencies

15. Commitments and Contingencies

Litigation. From time to time, the Company has been, and may become, involved in various legal actions involving its operations, products and technologies, including intellectual property and employment disputes. The outcomes of these legal actions are not within the Company’s complete control and may not be known for prolonged periods of time. In some actions, the claimants seek damages, as well as other relief, including injunctions barring the sale of products that are the subject of the lawsuit, which, if granted, could require significant expenditures or result in lost revenue. The Company records a liability in the consolidated financial statements for these actions when a loss is known or considered probable and the amount can be reasonably estimated. If the reasonable estimate of a known or probable loss is a range, and no amount within the range is a better estimate, the minimum amount of the range is accrued. If a loss is possible but not known or probable, and can be reasonably estimated, the estimated loss or range of loss is disclosed. In most cases, significant judgment is required to estimate the amount and timing of a loss to be recorded.

Southern Research Institute (“SRI”) Litigation. On July 31, 2009, the Company’s SurModics Pharmaceuticals subsidiary was named as a defendant in litigation pending in the circuit court of Jefferson County, Alabama, between SRI and two of SRI’s former employees (the “Plaintiffs”). In the litigation, the Plaintiffs allege that they contributed to or invented certain intellectual property while they were employed at SRI, and pursuant to SRI’s policies then in effect, they are entitled to, among other things, a portion of the purchase price consideration paid by the Company to SRI as part of the Company’s acquisition of SurModics Pharmaceuticals pursuant to a stock purchase agreement made effective on July 31, 2007 (the “Stock Purchase Agreement”). The Plaintiffs have also alleged that they are entitled to a portion of the intellectual property income derived from license agreements with certain customers of SurModics Pharmaceuticals that make use of patents to which the Plaintiffs invented or contributed. A trial has not yet been scheduled. Based on the facts known to date, the Company has recorded a $100,000 expense in discontinued operations in the second quarter of fiscal 2013. The Company has not recorded additional accruals as the probability of the outcome is currently not determinable and any potential loss is not estimable. The Company believes that it has meritorious defenses to the Plaintiff’s claims and will vigorously defend and prosecute this matter. Following the Pharma Sale, the Company remains responsible for this litigation and has agreed to indemnify Evonik against certain losses, including those that may be incurred in connection with this litigation.

 

Pursuant to the Stock Purchase Agreement, the Company has certain rights of indemnification against losses (including without limitation, damages, expenses and costs) incurred as a result of the litigation. The Company has recorded unreimbursed legal expenses totaling $1.0 million as of March 31, 2013, related to this litigation, within selling, general and administrative expenses from continuing operations in the condensed consolidated statements of income. In June of 2011, the Company sued SRI in United States District Court for the District of Minnesota seeking a judicial declaration regarding the scope of the Company’s indemnification rights under the Stock Purchase Agreement. On April 17, 2013, the District Court entered a judgment in the Company’s favor requiring SRI to indemnify the Company for prior and future legal expenditures related to this matter. The District Court’s decision is subject to appeal by SRI, and any cash received associated with the judgment will result in income from the recovery of expenses the Company has previously recognized.

InnoRx, Inc. In January 2005, the Company entered into a merger agreement whereby SurModics acquired all of the assets of InnoRx, Inc. (“InnoRx”), an early stage company developing drug delivery devices and therapies for the ophthalmology market. SurModics will be required to issue up to approximately 480,059 additional shares of its common stock to the stockholders of InnoRx upon the successful completion of the remaining development and commercial milestones involving InnoRx technology acquired in the transaction. The Company has not recorded any accrual for this contingency as of March 31, 2013 as the milestones have not been achieved and the probability of achievement is low.

PR Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In November 2008, the Company’s SurModics Pharmaceuticals subsidiary acquired certain contracts and assets of PR Pharma to enhance its portfolio of drug delivery technologies for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The Company agreed to indemnify Evonik, for a period of five years, for up to $2.5 million of contingent consideration obligations to the sellers of PR Pharma related to a future patent issuance milestone when it sold substantially all of the SurModics Pharmaceuticals assets to Evonik on November 17, 2011. The Company has not recorded any accrual for this contingency as of March 31, 2013 as the milestone has not been achieved and the probability of achievement is low.

Alabama Jobs Commitment. In April 2008, the Company purchased a 286,000 square foot office and warehouse facility to support cGMP needs of customers and the anticipated growth of SurModics Pharmaceuticals. At the same time, SurModics Pharmaceuticals entered into an agreement with various governmental authorities to obtain financial incentives associated with creation of jobs in Alabama. Some of the governmental agencies have recapture rights in connection with the financial incentives if a specific number of full-time employees were not hired by June 2012, with an extension to June 2013 if circumstances or events occurred that were beyond the control of SurModics Pharmaceuticals or could not have been reasonably anticipated by SurModics Pharmaceuticals. This liability was retained by the Company and did not transfer to Evonik as part of the Pharma Sale in November 2011. As of December 31, 2012, SurModics Pharmaceuticals had received $1.7 million in connection with the agreement.

On January 29, 2013, the Company entered into a settlement agreement with the City of Birmingham, Alabama to pay $325,000 in settlement of $1.5 million of the $1.7 million retained liability. The Company paid the $325,000 and recorded a gain in discontinued operations of $1.2 million before taxes in the second quarter of fiscal 2013 related to this settlement.

On April 17, 2013, the Company and the State of Alabama entered into a termination agreement which did not require the Company to repay the $0.2 million retained liability. The Company expects to record a gain in discontinued operations of $0.2 million before taxes in the third quarter of fiscal 2013 related to this termination. The termination agreement with the State of Alabama satisfies the remaining recapture rights that existed with the Alabama jobs commitment program.