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Commitments and Contingencies | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2020
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies | Commitments and Contingencies Lease Commitments We have entered into various non-cancelable operating lease agreements for certain of our office space and equipment with original lease periods expiring between 2020 and 2030. For additional information regarding our lease agreements, see Note 14 in our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019. Purchase Commitments Purchase commitments primarily include various non-cancelable agreements to purchase content related to our mobile applications and websites and certain cloud computing services as well as homes we are under contract to purchase through Zillow Offers but that have not closed as of the respective date. The amounts due for non-cancelable purchase commitments, excluding homes under contract, as of September 30, 2020, are as follows (in thousands, unaudited):
| Purchase Obligations
2020 | $ | 5,646 |
2021 | 19,895 |
2022 | 4,812 |
2023 | 1,004 |
2024 | 394 |
2025 | 60 |
Total future purchase commitments | $ | 31,811 |
As of September 30, 2020, the value of homes under contract that have not closed was $182.6 million. Letters of Credit As of September 30, 2020, we have outstanding letters of credit of approximately $16.9 million, which secure our lease obligations in connection with certain of our office space operating leases. Surety Bonds In the course of business, we are required to provide financial commitments in the form of surety bonds to third parties as a guarantee of our performance on and our compliance with certain obligations. If we were to fail to perform or comply with these obligations, any draws upon surety bonds issued on our behalf would then trigger our payment obligation to the surety bond issuer. We have outstanding surety bonds issued for our benefit of approximately $10.1 million and $10.2 million, respectively, as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019. Legal Proceedings We are involved in a number of legal proceedings concerning matters arising in connection with the conduct of our business activities, some of which are at preliminary stages and some of which seek an indeterminate amount of damages. We regularly evaluate the status of legal proceedings in which we are involved to assess whether a loss is probable or there is a reasonable possibility that a loss or additional loss may have been incurred to determine if accruals are appropriate. We further evaluate each legal proceeding to assess whether an estimate of possible loss or range of loss can be made if accruals are not appropriate. For certain cases described below, management is unable to provide a meaningful estimate of the possible loss or range of possible loss because, among other reasons, (i) the proceedings are in preliminary stages; (ii) specific damages have not been sought; (iii) damages sought are, in our view, unsupported and/or exaggerated; (iv) there is uncertainty as to the outcome of pending appeals or motions; (v) there are significant factual issues to be resolved; and/or (vi) there are novel legal issues or unsettled legal theories presented. For these cases, however, management does not believe, based on currently available information, that the outcomes of these proceedings will have a material effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flow. For the matters discussed below, we have not recorded any material accruals as of September 30, 2020 or December 31, 2019. In July 2015, VHT, Inc. (“VHT”) filed a complaint against us in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington alleging copyright infringement of VHT’s images on the Zillow Digs site. In January 2016, VHT filed an amended complaint alleging copyright infringement of VHT’s images on the Zillow Digs site as well as the Zillow listing site. In December 2016, the court granted a motion for partial summary judgment that dismissed VHT’s claims with respect to the Zillow listing site. On February 9, 2017, a jury trial returned a verdict finding that the Company had infringed VHT’s copyrights in images displayed or saved to the Digs site. The jury awarded VHT $79,875 in actual damages and approximately $8.2 million in statutory damages. On June 20, 2017, the District Court granted certain of our post-trial motions, finding that VHT failed to present sufficient evidence to prove direct copyright infringement for a portion of the images, reducing the total damages to approximately $4.1 million. On March 15, 2019, after we filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals seeking review of the final judgment and certain prior rulings entered by the District Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion that, among other things, (i) affirmed the District Court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Zillow on direct infringement of images on Zillow’s listing site, (ii) affirmed the district court’s grant in favor of Zillow of judgment notwithstanding the verdict on certain images that were displayed on the Zillow Digs site, (iii) remanded consideration of the issue whether VHT’s images on the Zillow Digs site were part of a compilation or individual photos, and (iv) vacated the jury’s finding of willful infringement. On October 7, 2019, the United States Supreme Court denied VHT’s petition for writ of certiorari seeking review of certain rulings by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. On December 6, 2019, the Company filed a motion for summary judgment with the District Court seeking a ruling that VHT’s images are a compilation, or in the alternative, seeking a dismissal of the case based on a recent United States Supreme Court ruling. On May 8, 2020, the District Court denied the Company’s motion for summary judgment and granted VHT’s motion for summary judgment on the issue of whether the remaining photos were a compilation. We do not believe there is a reasonable possibility that a material loss will be incurred related to this lawsuit. In August and September 2017, two purported class action lawsuits were filed against us and certain of our executive officers, alleging, among other things, violations of federal securities laws on behalf of a class of those who purchased our common stock between February 12, 2016 and August 8, 2017. One of those purported class actions, captioned Vargosko v. Zillow Group, Inc. et al, was brought in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The other purported class action lawsuit, captioned Shotwell v. Zillow Group, Inc. et al, was brought in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The complaints allege, among other things, that during the period between February 12, 2016 and August 8, 2017, we issued materially false and misleading statements regarding our business practices. The complaints seek to recover, among other things, alleged damages sustained by the purported class members as a result of the alleged misconduct. In November 2017, an amended complaint was filed against us and certain of our executive officers in the Shotwell v. Zillow Group purported class action lawsuit, extending the beginning of the class period to November 17, 2014. In January 2018, the Vargosko v. Zillow Group purported class action lawsuit was transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington and consolidated with the Shotwell v. Zillow Group purported class action lawsuit. In February 2018, the plaintiffs filed a consolidated amended complaint, and in April 2018, we filed our motion to dismiss the consolidated amended complaint. In October 2018, our motion to dismiss was granted without prejudice, and in November 2018, the plaintiffs filed a second consolidated amended complaint, which we moved to dismiss in December 2018. On April 19, 2019, our motion to dismiss the second consolidated amended complaint was denied, and we filed our answer to the second amended complaint on May 3, 2019. On October 11, 2019, plaintiffs filed a motion for class certification which was granted by the District Court on October 28, 2020. We have denied the allegations of wrongdoing and intend to vigorously defend the claims in this lawsuit. We do not believe a loss related to this lawsuit is probable. In October and November 2017 and January and February 2018, four shareholder derivative lawsuits were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington and the Superior Court of the State of Washington, King County, against certain of our executive officers and directors seeking unspecified damages on behalf of the Company and certain other relief, such as reform to corporate governance practices. The plaintiffs in the derivative suits (in which the Company is a nominal defendant) allege, among other things, that the defendants breached their fiduciary duties in connection with oversight of the Company’s public statements and legal compliance, and as a result of the breach of such fiduciary duties, the Company was damaged, and defendants were unjustly enriched. Certain of the plaintiffs also allege, among other things, violations of Section 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and waste of corporate assets. On February 5, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington consolidated the two federal shareholder derivative lawsuits pending in that court. On February 16, 2018, the Superior Court of the State of Washington, King County, consolidated the two shareholder derivative lawsuits pending in that court. All four of the shareholder derivative lawsuits were stayed until our motion to dismiss the second consolidated amended complaint in the securities class action lawsuit discussed above was denied in April 2019. On July 8, 2019, the plaintiffs in the consolidated federal derivative lawsuit filed a consolidated shareholder derivative complaint, which we moved to dismiss on August 22, 2019. On February 28, 2020, our motion to dismiss the consolidated federal shareholder derivative complaint was denied. On May 18, 2020 we filed an answer in the consolidated federal derivative lawsuit. On August 24, 2020, we filed an answer in the consolidated state derivative matter. We do not believe a loss is probable related to these lawsuits. On September 17, 2019, International Business Machines Corporation (“IBM”) filed a complaint against us in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, alleging, among other things, that the Company has infringed and continues to willfully infringe seven patents held by IBM and seeks unspecified damages, including a request that the amount of compensatory damages be trebled, injunctive relief and costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees. On November 8, 2019, we filed a motion to transfer venue and/or to dismiss the complaint. On December 2, 2019, IBM filed an amended complaint, and on December 16, 2019 we filed a renewed motion to transfer venue and/or to dismiss the complaint. The Company’s motion to transfer venue to the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington was granted on May 28, 2020. We filed our answer with counterclaims in response to the amended complaint on June 11, 2020. On July 2, 2020, IBM filed a motion to dismiss our counterclaims. In response to IBM’s motion, on July 22, 2020, we filed an amended answer with counterclaims. On August 12, 2020, IBM filed its answer to our counterclaims. On September 18, 2020, we filed four Inter Partes Review petitions before the United States Patent and Trademark Office seeking the Board’s review of the patentability with respect to three of the patents asserted by IBM in the lawsuit. We deny the allegations of any wrongdoing and intend to vigorously defend the claims in the lawsuit. There is a reasonable possibility that a loss may be incurred related to this complaint; however, the possible loss or range of loss is not estimable. On July 21, 2020, IBM filed a second action against us in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, alleging, among other things that the Company has infringed and continues to willfully infringe five patents held by IBM and seeks unspecified damages. On September 14, 2020, we filed a motion to dismiss the complaint filed in the action. We deny the allegations of any wrongdoing and intend to vigorously defend the claims in the lawsuit. We do not believe a loss related to this lawsuit is probable. In addition to the matters discussed above, from time to time, we are involved in litigation and claims that arise in the ordinary course of business. Although we cannot be certain of the outcome of any such litigation or claims, nor the amount of damages and exposure that we could incur, we currently believe that the final disposition of such matters will not have a material effect on our business, financial position, results of operations or cash flow. Regardless of the outcome, litigation can have an adverse impact on us because of defense and settlement costs, diversion of management resources and other factors. Indemnifications In the ordinary course of business, we enter into contractual arrangements under which we agree to provide indemnification of varying scope and terms to business partners and other parties with respect to certain matters, including, but not limited to, losses arising out of the breach of such agreements and out of intellectual property infringement claims made by third parties. In addition, we have agreements that indemnify certain issuers of surety bonds against losses that they may incur as a result of executing surety bonds on our behalf. For our indemnification arrangements, payment may be conditional on the other party making a claim pursuant to the procedures specified in the particular contract. Further, our obligations under these agreements may be limited in terms of time and/or amount, and in some instances, we may have recourse against third parties for certain payments. In addition, we have indemnification agreements with certain of our directors and executive officers that require us, among other things, to indemnify them against certain liabilities that may arise by reason of their status or service as directors or officers. The terms of such obligations may vary.

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