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LITIGATION | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2017
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
LITIGATION | LITIGATION From time to time we are involved as plaintiff or defendant in various legal actions arising in the normal course of business. In accordance with applicable accounting guidance, the Company establishes an accrued liability when those matters present loss contingencies that are both probable and estimable. The Company continues to monitor the matter for further developments that could affect the amount of the accrued liability that has been previously established. As of December 31, 2017, the Company accrued $4.7 million for various litigation filed against the Company and the Bank. The Company was named as a defendant in several complaints filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California in January 2017 alleging violations of sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The complaints were brought as purported class actions on behalf of stockholders who purchased shares of the Company’s common stock between varying dates, inclusive of August 7, 2015 through January 23, 2017. Those actions were consolidated, a lead plaintiff was appointed, and the lead plaintiff filed a Consolidated Amended Complaint on May 31, 2017. The defendants moved to dismiss the Consolidated Amended Complaint. On September 18, 2017, the district court granted in part and denied in part Defendants’ motions to dismiss. Specifically, the court denied the defendants’ motions as to the Company’s April 15, 2016 Proxy Statement which listed the positions held by Steven A. Sugarman (the Company’s then (now former) Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer) with COR Securities Holdings Inc., COR Clearing LLC, and COR Capital LLC while omitting their alleged connections with Jason Galanis. Trial is currently set for October 21, 2019. The Company believes that the action is without merit and intends to vigorously contest it. On September 26, 2017, a shareholder derivative action was filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California against four of the Company’s directors alleging that they breached their fiduciary duties to the Company. In that action, the Company is a nominal defendant. The complaint seeks monetary and equitable relief on behalf of the Company. The Company believes that the shareholder was required to, but failed to, make a demand on the Company to bring such claims, and that this failure requires dismissal of the action. The Company filed a motion to dismiss on those grounds. Rather than oppose the Company’s motion, plaintiff elected to file an amended complaint. The amended complaint was filed on February 6, 2018, which added Richard J. Lashley, Doug H. Bowers and John Grosvenor as individual defendants, and which added purported claims for gross negligence and unjust enrichment. The Company anticipates that it will file a motion to dismiss the amended complaint. On September 5, 2017, Jeffrey T. Seabold, a former officer of the Company and the Bank, filed a complaint in the Los Angeles Superior Court against the Company and multiple unnamed defendants asserting claims for breach of contract, wrongful termination, retaliation and unfair business practices. Mr. Seabold alleges that he was constructively terminated as a Company and Bank employee and seeks in excess of $5 million in damages. On January 19, 2018, the parties reached a settlement in principle through mediation and a final settlement agreement was executed on February 14, 2018. The settlement will not have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations or liquidity. For additional information, including the terms of the settlement agreement, see Note 25.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for loss and gain contingencies. Describes any existing condition, situation, or set of circumstances involving uncertainty as of the balance sheet date (or prior to issuance of the financial statements) as to a probable or reasonably possible loss incurred by an entity that will ultimately be resolved when one or more future events occur or fail to occur, and typically discloses the amount of loss recorded or a range of possible loss, or an assertion that no reasonable estimate can be made. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 450 -SubTopic 30 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/subtopic&trid=2127197 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 450 -SubTopic 20 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/subtopic&trid=2127163 + Details
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