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Note 21 - Commitments and Contingencies | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2023
Notes to Financial Statements |
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Text Block] | 21. Commitments and Contingencies: Commercial Litigation On February 12, 2024, Plaintiffs filed a lawsuit, DDS Striker Holdings LLC and Data Driven Holdings LLC against Verisk Analytics, Inc. and Insurance Service Office, in the Superior Court of Delaware, Case No. N24C-02-130 VLM CCLD. Plaintiffs allege claims for breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, fraudulent inducement, common law fraud, and civil conspiracy in connection with their inability to meet the post-closing earn-out targets negotiated as part of our acquisition of Data Driven Safety, LLC. Plaintiffs seek rescissory, out-of-pocket and punitive damages, as well as attorney’s fees, costs and other expenses. The deadline for our response is April 3, 2024. At this time, it is not possible to reasonably estimate the liability related to this matter, as the case is still in its early stages. ERISA Litigation On September 24, 2020, former employees Jillyn Peterson, Gabe Hare, Robert Heynen and Adam Krajewski ("Plaintiffs"), filed suit in the United States District Court, District of New Jersey (No. 2:20-cv-13223-CCC-MF) against Defendants Insurance Services Office Inc. ("ISO"), the Plan Administration Committee of Insurance Services Office Inc. and its members ("Committee Defendants"), and the Trust Investment Committee of Insurance Services Office Inc. and its members. The class action complaint alleges violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, as amended ("ERISA"). The class is defined as all persons who were participants in or beneficiaries of the ISO 401(k) Savings and Employee Stock Ownership Plan ("Plan"), at any time between September 24, 2014 through the date of judgment. The complaint alleges that all defendants are fiduciaries with respect to the Plan. Plaintiffs challenge the amount of fees paid by Plan participants to maintain the investment funds in the plan portfolio and the amount of recordkeeper fees paid by participants. Plaintiffs allege that by permitting the payment of excessive fees, the Committee Defendants breached their ERISA duties of prudence and loyalty. Plaintiffs further allege that ISO breached its ERISA duty by failing to monitor the Committee Defendants who they allege committed known breaches of their fiduciary duties. The complaint does not specify damages but alleges the fiduciary breaches cost Plan participants millions of dollars. Defendants filed their motion to dismiss the complaint on January 12, 2021, which the court partially denied on April 13, 2021. Fact discovery was completed. The court stayed the litigation pending the outcome of the parties’ mediation, but the stay was lifted on May 5, 2023. The parties engaged in expert discovery, and this matter was settled before a mediator on October 4, 2023. The settlement agreement was signed by both parties, and on January 12, 2024, the court granted preliminary approval of class action settlement. Financial Services Government Inquiry We continue to cooperate with a civil inquiry by the Department of Justice ("DOJ") related to government contracts within our former Financial Services segment, which was sold to TransUnion in April 2022. We are engaged in ongoing discussions regarding potential resolution of the inquiry by the DOJ. There can be no assurance that these discussions and continuing engagement will lead to resolution of the matter and we cannot anticipate the timing, outcome or possible impact of the inquiry, including any potential material adverse financial impacts or otherwise. We have recorded an accrued liability for approximately $39.0 million related to this matter. Amounts payable pursuant to any potential resolution, however, could differ from such amount. Under the stock purchase agreement we entered into with TransUnion pursuant to which TransUnion acquired our former Financial Services segment, we agreed to indemnify TransUnion for certain losses with respect to the inquiry. In March 2022, we were informed that the SEC was conducting an inquiry related to certain contracts of our former Financial Services segment. The SEC notified us on November 28, 2023 that it had concluded its investigation and did not intend to recommend an enforcement action against the Company. Data Privacy Litigation On or about February 8, 2023, Plaintiffs filed a lawsuit, Atlas Data Privacy Corp., et al. v. Verisk Analytics, Inc., et al., in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Middlesex County, Case No. MID-L-000903-24, alleging violations of Daniel’s Law. Verisk has not yet been served. Atlas claims to be an “assignee” of claims of approximately 19,640 individuals who are “covered persons” under Daniel’s Law, allegedly enacted to provide judicial and law enforcement officers and their family members with the right to prevent disclosure of their personal information and to enforce those rights against uncooperative data brokers. It is alleged that Defendants have violated Daniel’s Law by failing to respond and comply with their written request to Defendants to cease publicly disclosing or re-disclosing their protected information. Plaintiffs seek actual damages in the amount of $1,000 per violation under the statute, punitive damages, injunctive relief ordering compliance with Daniel’s Law, permanent injunctive relief, including the appointment of a qualified independent expert to ensure compliance with Daniel’s Law, and reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. At this time, it is not possible to reasonably estimate the liability related to this matter, as the case is still in its early stages. On January 30, 2023, Plaintiffs Justin Ahringer and Michael Donner filed a putative class action lawsuit in the United States District Court, Central District of California, titled Ahringer et al. v. LoanDepot, Inc. and Verisk Analytics, Inc. d/b/a Jornaya, Case No.: 8:23-cv-00186. Plaintiffs assert violations of California’s Invasion of Privacy Act, Unfair Competition Law, and a violation of class members’ privacy rights under the California Constitution. Plaintiffs allege that the Defendants recorded visitors’ electronic communications without their consent. Plaintiffs seek to certify a nationwide class of individuals who visited LoanDepot.com and provided personal information on the website’s forms to receive a quote or apply for a loan. They allege that the aggregate claims of all members of the proposed class exceeds $5.0 million. Plaintiffs seek compensatory, statutory or punitive damages or restitution, as well as reasonable attorney’s fees and other costs. We filed a motion to dismiss Plaintiffs’ claims on April 13, 2023. The parties are currently engaging in jurisdictional discovery in response to the court’s demand to Plaintiff to demonstrate why this case should not be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The court found jurisdiction is proper and partially denied our motion on February 7, 2024. The deadline to answer Plaintiffs' Complaint is February 22, 2024. At this time, it is not possible to reasonably estimate the liability related to this matter, as the case is still in its early stages. On June 27, 2022, Plaintiff Loretta Williams brought a putative class action against Lead Intelligence, Inc. d/b/a Jornaya (“we,” “our,” or “us”) in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, titled Williams v. DDR Media, LLC and Lead Intelligence, Inc. d/b/a Jornaya, Civil Action No. 3:22-cv-03789. The Complaint alleges that the Defendants violated the California Invasion of Privacy Act, Cal. Penal Code 631 (“CIPA”) and invaded Plaintiff’s and class members’ privacy rights when Defendants purportedly recorded visitors’ visits to the scrappyrent2own.com website without prior express consent. It is further alleged that this conduct constitutes a violation of the California Unfair Competition Law, Cal. Bus. Prof. Code Section 17200 et seq. and the California Constitution. The Complaint seeks class certification, injunctive relief, statutory damages in the amount of $5,000 for each violation, attorneys fees and other litigation costs. Our motion to compel arbitration was fully briefed as of January 27, 2023. It was denied on February 28, 2023. We filed a motion to dismiss Plaintiff’s claims on April 13, 2023. On August 18, 2023 the court granted our motion, dismissing Plaintiff’s claims without prejudice, but giving Plaintiff an opportunity to amend her claims by September 20, 2023. Plaintiff filed a Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”) on September 20, 2023. Our motion to dismiss the SAC was fully briefed on December 18, 2023. It was denied on January 30, 2024. The court held an initial case management conference for February 9, 2024. At this time, it is not possible to reasonably estimate the liability related to this matter, as the case is still in its early stages. On December 15, 2021, Plaintiff Jillian Cantinieri brought a putative class action against Verisk Analytics, Insurance Services Office and ISO Claims Services, Inc. (“we,” “our,” or “us”) in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, titled Cantinieri v. Verisk Analytics Inc., et al., Civil Action No. 2:21-cv-6911. The Complaint alleges that we failed to safeguard the personally identifiable information (PII) of Plaintiff and the members of the proposed classes from a purported breach of our databases by unauthorized entities. Plaintiff and class members allege actual and imminent injuries, including theft of their PII, fraudulent activity on their financial accounts, lowered credit scores, and costs associated with detection and prevention of identity theft and fraud. They seek to recover compensatory, statutory and punitive damages, disgorgement of earnings and profits, and attorney’s fees and costs. We filed our motion to dismiss Plaintiff’s claims on April 22, 2022. On March 30, 2023 the court denied our motion to dismiss without prejudice, allowing us an opportunity to re-file the motion once limited jurisdictional discovery has been completed. Our renewed motion to dismiss was fully briefed on February 16, 2024. At this time, it is not possible to reasonably estimate the liability related to this matter, as the case is still in its early stages.

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