Commitments and Contingencies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

(20) Commitments and Contingencies

The following table presents rent expense for the Company’s office leases recorded on the condensed consolidated statements of operations for the following periods:


	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2022		2021
Rent expense for office leases (1)	$	2,289	$	2,195

(1) Includes lease expense of $110 and $153 for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, for assets held for sale.

Litigation

The Company is a defendant in Mullins v. Southern Financial Life Insurance Co., which was filed in February 2006, in the Pike County Circuit Court, in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. A class was certified in June 2010. At issue is whether the coverage period of certain credit disability and life insurance policies issued in Kentucky were limited by the term of the associated loan. The action alleges violations of the Kentucky Consumer Protection Act and certain insurance statutes, common law fraud and breach of contract and the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and interest.

In July 2021, the court entered an Order granting Plaintiffs’ Motion for Partial Summary Judgment as to certain disability policies, ruling that if a class member became disabled during the coverage period, benefits could extend beyond the coverage period until the associated loan was paid off. The Company intends to challenge the court’s ruling. In February 2022, a hearing was held on competing motions for partial summary judgment on the principal claims. A hearing for Plaintiffs’ Motion for Sanctions for Spoliation of Evidence is scheduled for June 9, 2022. The court has not yet ruled on the pending motions. No additional hearings are scheduled and a trial date has not been set.

The Company considers such litigation customary in the insurance industry. In management's opinion, based on information available at this time, the ultimate resolution of such litigation, which it is vigorously defending, should not be materially adverse to the financial position of the Company. It should be noted that large punitive damage awards, bearing little relation to actual damages sustained by plaintiffs, have been awarded in certain states against other companies in the credit insurance business. At this time, the Company cannot estimate a range of loss that is reasonably possible.

The Company and its subsidiaries are parties to other legal proceedings in the ordinary course of business. Although the Company’s legal and financial liability with respect to such proceedings cannot be estimated with certainty, the Company does not believe that these proceedings, either individually or in the aggregate, are likely to have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial position.