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8. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2013
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
8. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | Sales Commitments – At September 30, 2013, the Company had entered into sales contracts with its major customers to sell certain quantities of ethanol, WDG, syrup and corn oil. The Company had open ethanol indexed-price contracts for 102,600,000 gallons of ethanol as of September 30, 2013. The Company had open WDG, syrup and corn oil fixed-price sales contracts valued at $134,000 and open indexed-price sales contracts for 2,500 tons of WDG and syrup as of September 30, 2013. These sales contracts are expected to be completed over the next twelve months. Purchase Commitments – At September 30, 2013, the Company had fixed-price purchase contracts with its suppliers to purchase $14,200,000 of ethanol. These contracts are expected to be satisfied over the next twelve months. Litigation – General – The Company is subject to various claims and contingencies in the ordinary course of its business, including those related to litigation, business transactions, employee-related matters, and others. When the Company is aware of a claim or potential claim, it assesses the likelihood of any loss or exposure. If it is probable that a loss will result and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated, the Company will record a liability for the loss. If the loss is not probable or the amount of the loss cannot be reasonably estimated, the Company discloses the claim if the likelihood of a potential loss is reasonably possible and the amount involved could be material. While there can be no assurances, the Company does not expect that any of its pending legal proceedings will have a material financial impact on the Company’s operating results. On May 24, 2013, GS CleanTech Corporation (“GS CleanTech”), filed a suit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division (Case No.: 2:13-CV-01042-JAM-AC), naming Pacific Ethanol, Inc. as a defendant. The suit alleges infringement of a patent assigned to GS CleanTech by virtue of certain corn oil separation technology in use at one or more of the ethanol production facilities in which the Company has an interest, including Pacific Ethanol Stockton, LLC, located in Stockton, California. The complaint seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions against the Company, prohibiting future infringement on the patent owned by GS CleanTech and damages in an unspecified amount adequate to compensate GS CleanTech for the alleged patent infringement, but in any event no less than a reasonable royalty for the use made of the inventions of the patent, plus attorney’s fees. Pacific Ethanol, Inc. does not itself use any corn oil separation technology and may seek a dismissal on those grounds. Further, although two of the Company’s majority-owned subsidiaries do separate and market corn oil, the Company and its majority-owned subsidiaries strongly disagree that any of the subsidiaries use corn oil separation technology that infringes the patent owned by GS CleanTech. The Company has since answered the complaint and counterclaimed that the patent claims at issue are invalid and that the Company is not infringing.

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