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Litigation, Commitments and Contingencies
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2012
Litigation, Commitments and Contingencies
Note 13. Litigation, Commitments and Contingencies

Litigation

In the normal course of business, the Company is a defendant in various legal actions and asserted claims. While the Company and its legal counsel are unable to assess the ultimate outcome of each of these matters with certainty, the Company believes the resolution of these actions, singly or in the aggregate, should not have a material adverse effect on the financial condition, results of operations or cash flows of the Company.

Commitments and Contingencies

The Company is a party to financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk in the normal course of business to meet the financing needs of its customers. These financial instruments include commitments to extend credit, standby letters of credit, and financial guarantees. These instruments involve, to varying degrees, elements of credit and interest rate risk beyond the amount recognized on the balance sheet. The contractual amounts of those instruments reflect the extent of involvement the Company has in particular classes of financial instruments. The Company’s exposure to credit loss in the event of nonperformance by the other party to the financial instrument for commitments to extend credit and standby letters of credit and financial guarantees written is represented by the contractual amount of those instruments. The Company uses the same credit policies in making commitments and conditional obligations as it does for on-balance sheet instruments.

Commitments to extend credit are agreements to lend to a customer as long as there is no violation of any condition established in the contract. Commitments generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses and may require payment of a fee. Since many of the commitments are expected to expire without being drawn upon, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future cash requirements. The Company evaluates each customer’s creditworthiness on a case-by-case basis. The amount of collateral obtained, if deemed necessary upon extension of credit, is based on management’s credit evaluation of the counterparty. Collateral may include accounts receivable, inventory, property, plant and equipment, and income-producing commercial properties. Commitments to extend credit, including availability on lines of credit, totaled $215.77 million at December 31, 2012, and $194.27 million at December 31, 2011. Additionally, the Company had gross notional amounts of outstanding commitments related to secondary market mortgage loans of $14.84 million at December 31, 2012, and $9.15 million at December 31, 2011.

Standby letters of credit and financial guarantees are conditional commitments issued by the Company to guarantee the performance of a customer to a third party. The credit risk involved in issuing letters of credit is essentially the same as that involved in extending loan facilities to customers. To the extent deemed necessary, collateral of varying types and amounts is held to secure customer performance under certain of those letters of credit outstanding. Standby letters of credit and financial guarantees totaled $6.81 million at December 31, 2012, and $2.90 million at December 31, 2011. The Company maintained a reserve for unfunded lending commitments of $326 thousand at December 31, 2012, and $329 thousand at December 31, 2011.

The Company has issued, through the Trust, $15.0 million of trust preferred securities in a private placement. In connection with the issuance of the trust preferred securities, the Company has committed to irrevocably and unconditionally guarantee the following payments or distributions with respect to the trust preferred securities to the holders thereof to the extent that the Trust has not made such payments or distributions and has the funds therefore: (i) accrued and unpaid distributions, (ii) the redemption price, and (iii) upon a dissolution or termination of the Trust, the lesser of the liquidation amount and all accrued and unpaid distributions and the amount of assets of the Trust remaining available for distribution.