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Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Oct. 31, 2019

7. Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments and guarantees

We lease facilities and certain equipment under non-cancelable leases expiring at various dates through 2031. We are committed to make minimum cash payments under these agreements as of October 31, 2019, as follows (in thousands):


2020	$	9,534
2021		9,007
2022		8,672
2023		8,603
2024		8,203
Thereafter		50,796
	$	94,815

Total rent expense amounted to approximately $10.7 million, $6.4 million and $6.0 million for the years ended October 31, 2019, 2018, and 2017 Rent to Limoneira, for our corporate office, amounted to approximately $0.3 million for fiscal years 2019, 2018, and 2017.

In April 2019, we sold our Temecula, California packinghouse for $7.1 million in cash and, concurrently, leased back a portion of the facility representing approximately one-third of the total square footage. In connection with the capital lease we capitalized $3.2 million as a capital lease in property, plant and equipment and recorded a lease liability of $3.2 million ($0.1 million in current portion and $3.1 million in long term debt).

During our third quarter of fiscal year 2019, we entered into a 10-year building and equipment lease for fresh food facility in Conley, GA. This facility is primarily intended to process fresh-cut fruit & vegetables and prepared foods products for our RFG business segment. Annual rent for the building and equipment approximates $0.9 million and $0.6 million, respectively, over the life of the lease. The lease for the equipment is considered to be a capital lease, therefore, we calculated the present value of the minimum lease payments related to the equipment and capitalized $2.8 million as a capital lease in property, plant and equipment and recorded $2.8 million as a lease obligation.

We indemnify our directors and have the power to indemnify each of our officers, employees and other agents, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law. No amounts have been accrued in the accompanying financial statements related to these indemnifications.

Litigation

From time to time, we are also involved in other litigation arising in the ordinary course of our business that we do not believe will have a material adverse impact on our financial statements.

Mexico tax audits

We conduct business both domestically and internationally and, as a result, one or more of our subsidiaries files income tax returns in U.S. federal, U.S. state and certain foreign jurisdictions. Accordingly, in the normal course of business, we are subject to examination by taxing authorities, primarily in Mexico and the United States. During our third quarter of fiscal 2016, our wholly owned subsidiary, Calavo de Mexico (CDM), received a written communication from the Ministry of Finance and Administration of the government of the State of Michoacan, Mexico (MFM) containing preliminary observations related to a 2011 tax audit of such subsidiary. MFM’s preliminary observations outline certain proposed adjustments primarily related to intercompany funding, deductions for services from certain vendors/suppliers and Value Added Tax (IVA). During the period from our fourth fiscal quarter of 2016 through our first fiscal quarter of 2019, we attempted to resolve our case with the MFM through working meetings attended by representatives of the MFM, CDM and PRODECON (Local Tax Ombudsman). However, we were unable to materially resolve our case with the MFM through the PRODECON process.

As a result, in April 2019, the MFM issued a final tax assessment to CDM (“the 2011 Assessment”) totaling approximately $2.2 billion Mexican pesos (approx. $114.4 million USD at October 31, 2019) related to Income Tax, Flat Rate Business Tax and Value Added Tax, corresponding to the fiscal 2011 tax audit. We have consulted with an internationally recognized tax advisor and continue to believe this tax assessment is without merit. Therefore, we filed an administrative appeal challenging the MFM’s fiscal 2011 assessment on June 12, 2019. The filing of an administrative appeal in Mexico is a process in which the taxpayer appeals to a different office within the Mexican tax authorities, forcing the legal office within the MFM to rule on the matter. This process preserves the taxpayer’s right to litigate in tax court if the administrative appeal process ends without a favorable or just resolution. Furthermore, in August 2018, we received a favorable ruling from Mexico's Federal Tax Administration Service, Servicio de Administracion Tributaria’s (the “SAT”) central legal department in Mexico City on another tax matter (see Note 15 regarding IVA refunds) indicating that they believe that our legal interpretation is accurate on a matter that is also central to the 2011 Assessment. We believe this recent ruling undermines the Assessment we received in April 2019. We believe we have the legal arguments and documentation to sustain the positions challenged by the MFM.

Additionally, we also received notice from the SAT, that CDM is currently under examination related to fiscal year 2013. In January 2017, we received preliminary observations from SAT outlining certain proposed adjustments primarily related to intercompany funding, deductions for services from certain vendors/suppliers, and VAT. We provided a written rebuttal to these preliminary observations during our second fiscal quarter of 2017. During the period from our third fiscal quarter of 2017 through our third fiscal quarter of 2018, we attempted to resolve our case with the SAT through working meetings attended by representatives of the SAT, CDM and the PRODECON. However, we were unable to materially resolve our case with the SAT through the PRODECON process.

As a result, in July 2018, the SAT’s local office in Uruapan issued to CDM a final tax assessment (the “2013 Assessment”) totaling approximately $2.6 billion Mexican pesos (approx. $135.1 million USD at October 31, 2019) related to Income Tax, Flat Rate Business Tax, and Value Added Tax, corresponding to the fiscal 2013 tax audit. Additionally, the tax authorities have determined that we owe an employee’s profit-sharing liability, totaling approximately $118 million Mexican pesos (approx. $6.1 million USD at October 31, 2019).

We have consulted with both an internationally recognized tax advisor, as well as a global law firm with offices throughout Mexico, and we continue to believe that this tax assessment is without merit. In August 2018, we filed an administrative appeal on the 2013 Assessment. CDM has appealed our case to the SAT’s central legal department in Mexico City. Furthermore, and as noted in the preceding paragraphs, in August 2018, we received a favorable ruling from the SAT’s central legal department in Mexico City on another tax matter (see Note 15 regarding IVA refunds) indicating that they believe that our legal interpretation is accurate on a matter that is also central to the 2013 Assessment. We believe this recent ruling significantly undermines the 2013 Assessment we received in July 2018. We believe we have the legal arguments and documentation to sustain the positions challenged by the SAT.

We continue to believe that the ultimate resolution of these matters is unlikely to have a material effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows. No amounts have been accrued in the accompanying financial statements related to these Mexico tax audits.