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11. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2013
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
11. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | Commitments – The following is a description of significant commitments at December 31, 2013: Leases – Future minimum lease payments required by non-cancelable leases in effect at December 31, 2013 are as follows (in thousands):
Years Ended December 31, |  | Capital Leases |  |  | Operating Leases |
2014 |  | $ | 5,109 |  |  | $ | 1,120 |
2015 |  |  | 4,351 |  |  |  | 1,141 |
2016 |  |  | 746 |  |  |  | 1,103 |
2017 |  |  | 794 |  |  |  | 951 |
2018 |  |  | 547 |  |  |  | 869 |
Thereafter |  |  | – |  |  |  | 2,721 |
Total minimum payments |  |  | 11,547 |  |  | $ | 7,905 |
Amount representing interest |  |  | (676 | ) |  |  |  |
Obligations under capital leases |  |  | 10,871 |  |  |  |  |
Obligations due within one year |  |  | 4,830 |  |  |  |  |
Long-term obligations under capital leases |  | $ | 6,041 |  |  |  |  |
Total rent expense during the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012 was $1,454,000 and $2,252,000, respectively. Sales Commitments – At December 31, 2013, the Company had entered into sales contracts with its major customers to sell certain quantities of ethanol, WDG, corn oil and syrup. The Company had open ethanol indexed-price contracts for 122,273,000 gallons of ethanol as of December 31, 2013. The Company had open corn oil fixed-price sales contracts valued at $959,000 and open indexed-price sales contracts for 1.8 million pounds of corn oil as of December 31, 2013. The Company had open WDG and syrup fixed-price sales contracts valued at $105,000 and open indexed-price sales contracts for 270 tons of WDG and syrup as of December 31, 2013. These sales contracts will be completed throughout 2014. Purchase Commitments – At December 31, 2013, the Company had indexed-price purchase contracts to purchase 15,457,000 gallons of ethanol and fixed-price purchase contracts to purchase $18,736,000 of ethanol from its suppliers. These purchase commitments will be satisfied throughout 2014. Contingencies – The following is a description of significant contingencies at December 31, 2013: 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. On August 29, 2013, the case was transferred to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana and made part of the pre-existing multi-district litigation involving GS CleanTech and multiple defendants. 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 (“PE Stockton”), 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. The Company has since answered the complaint and counterclaimed that the patent claims at issue, as well as the claims in several related patents, are invalid and unenforceable and that the Company is not infringing. Pacific Ethanol, Inc. does not itself use any corn oil separation technology and may seek a dismissal on those grounds. On March 17 and March 18, 2014, GS CleanTech filed suit naming as defendants two Company subsidiaries: PE Stockton and Pacific Ethanol Magic Valley, LLC (“PE Magic Valley”). The claims are similar to those filed against Pacific Ethanol, Inc. in May 2013. These two cases, currently pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California and United States District Court for the Eastern District of Idaho, respectively, will be transferred to the multi-district litigation division in United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, where the case against Pacific Ethanol, Inc. is pending, in accordance with a Conditional Transfer Order issued by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation on March 27, 2014. Although PE Stockton and PE Magic Valley do separate and market corn oil, the Company, PE Stockton and PE Magic Valley strongly disagree that either of the subsidiaries use corn oil separation technology that infringes the patent owned by GS CleanTech. The Company, PE Stockton and PE Magic Valley expect to mount vigorous defenses that include noninfringement, unenforceability, and invalidity of each of the patents at issue.

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