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Commitments And Contingencies | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2015
Commitments And Contingencies [Abstract] |
Commitments And Contingencies | NOTE 12 - Commitments and Contingencies LEASE COMMITMENTS The Company has entered into various leases for our cinema exhibition segment because most of our cinemas operate in leased facilities. We also lease office space and equipment under non-cancelable operating leases. As of December 31, 2015, the remaining terms of these leases, inclusive of options, range from 1 to 35 years. All of our leases are accounted for as operating leases and we do not have any capital leases as of December 31, 2015. We determine the annual base rent expense of our cinemas by amortizing total minimum lease obligations on a straight-line basis over the lease terms. Certain of our cinema leases provide for contingent rentals based upon a specified percentage of cinema revenue with a guaranteed minimum. Substantially all of our leases require the payment of property taxes, insurance, and other costs applicable to the property. The base rent and contingent rental expenses are summarized as follows: ﻿ ﻿
﻿ |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
﻿(Dollars in thousands) |  | 2015 |  | 2014 |  | 2013
﻿Base rent expense |  | $ | 30,565 |  | $ | 30,914 |  | $ | 32,054
﻿Contingent rental expense |  |  | 1,848 |  |  | 1,223 |  |  | 1,302
﻿Total cinema rent expense |  | $ | 32,413 |  | $ | 32,137 |  | $ | 33,356
﻿ Future minimum lease payments by year and, in the aggregate, under non-cancelable operating leases consisted of the following: ﻿
﻿ |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
﻿ |  | Minimum Lease Payments at December 31, 2015
﻿(Dollars in thousands) |  | Ground Lease |  | Premises Lease |  | Equipment Lease |  | Total
﻿2016 |  | $ | 3,529 |  | $ | 23,894 |  | $ | 2,694 |  | $ | 30,117
﻿2017 |  |  | 3,621 |  |  | 23,712 |  |  | 2,665 |  |  | 29,998
﻿2018 |  |  | 3,629 |  |  | 22,458 |  |  | -- |  |  | 26,087
﻿2019 |  |  | 3,691 |  |  | 19,683 |  |  | -- |  |  | 23,374
﻿2020 |  |  | 1,388 |  |  | 15,324 |  |  | -- |  |  | 16,712
﻿Thereafter |  |  | 11,339 |  |  | 110,790 |  |  | -- |  |  | 122,129
﻿Total |  | $ | 27,197 |  | $ | 215,861 |  | $ | 5,359 |  | $ | 248,417
We expect the amount of minimum lease payments will fluctuate depending on the foreign currency exchange rates of the Australian dollar to the U.S. dollar and the New Zealand dollar to the U.S. dollar, mainly because a significant portion of our cinema exhibition business is conducted in Australia and New Zealand. See Note 18 – Related Parties and Transactions for the amount of leases associated with any related party leases. LITIGATION We are currently involved in certain legal proceedings and, as required, have accrued estimates of probable and estimable losses for t he resolution of these claims. Where we are the plaintiffs, we expense all legal fees on an on-going basis and make no provision for any potential settlement amounts until received. In Australia, the prevailing party is usually entitled to recover its attorneys’ fees, which recoveries typically work out to be approximately 60% of the amo unts actually spent where first-class legal counsel is engaged at customary rates. Where we are a plaintiff, we have likewise made no provision for the liability for the defendant’s attorneys' fees in the event we are determined not to be the prevailing party. Where we are the defendants, we accrue for probable damages that insurance may not cover as they become known and can be reasonably estimated. In our opinion, any claims and litigation in which we are currently involved are not reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial position, or liquidity. I t is possible, however, that future results of the operations for any particular quarterly or annual period could be materially affected by the ultimate outcome of the legal proce edings. From time-to-time, we are involved with claims and lawsuits arising in the ordinary course of our business that may include contractual obligations, insurance claims, tax claims, employment matters, and anti-trust issues, among other matters. All of these matters require that we make judgments based on the facts known to us. These judgments are inherently uncertain and can change significantly when additional facts become known. We provide accruals for matters that are either probably or reasonably possible and can be properly estimated as to their expected negative outcome. We do not record expected gains until the proceeds are received by us TAX AUDIT/LITIGATION The Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) examined the tax return of Craig Corporation (“CRG”) for its tax year ended June 30, 1997. CRG was a stand-alone entity in the year of audit but is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. In Tax Court, CRG and the IRS agreed to compromise the claims made by the IRS against CRG, and the court order was entered on January 6, 2011. As of December 31, 2015, the remaining federal tax obligation was $2.5 million, reflecting additional interest accrued during the term of the four year installment plan. For additional information, see Note 9 – Income Taxes. ENVIRONMENTAL AND ASBETOS CLAIMS Certain of our subsidiaries were historically involved in railroad operations, coal mining, and manufacturing. Also, certain of these subsidiaries appear in the chain-of-title of properties that may suffer from pollution. Accordingly, certain of these subsidiaries have, from time-to-time, been named in and may in the future be named in various actions brought under applicable environmental laws. Also, we are in the real estate development business and may encounter from time-to-time unanticipated environmental conditions at properties that we have acquired for development. These environmental conditions can increase the cost of such projects and adversely affect the value and potential for profit of such projects. We do not currently believe that our exposure under applicable environmental laws is material in amount. From time-to-time, we have claims brought against us relating to the exposure of former employees of our railroad operations to asbestos and coal dust. These are generally covered by an insurance settlement reached in September 1990 with our insurance carriers. However, this insurance settlement does not cover litigation by people who were not our employees and who may claim second-hand exposure to asbestos, coal dust and/or other chemicals or elements now recognized as potentially causing cancer in humans. Our known exposure to these types of claims, asserted or probable of being asserted, is not material. DERIVATIVE LITIGATION AND JAMES J. COTTER, JR. ARBITRATION On June 12, 2015, the Board of Directors terminated James J. Cotter, Jr. as the President and Chief Executive Officer of our Company. That same day, Mr. Cotter, Jr. filed a lawsuit, styled as both an individual and a derivative action, and titled “James J. Cotter, Jr., individually and derivatively on behalf of Reading International, Inc. vs. Margaret Cotter, et al.” Case No,: A-15-719860-V, Dept XI (the “Cotter Jr. Derivative Action” and the “Cotter, Jr. Complaint,” respectively) against the C ompany and each of our other the n sitting Directors (Ellen Cotter, Margaret Cotter, Guy Adams, William Gould, Edward Kane, Douglas McEachern, and Tim Storey, the “Defendant Directors”) in the Eighth Judicial District Court of the State of Nevada for Clark County (the “Nevada District Court”). On October 22, 2015, Mr. Cotter, Jr., amended his complaint to drop his individual claims (the “Amended Cotter Jr. Derivative Complaint”). Accordingly, the Amended Cotter, Jr. Complaint presently purports to assert only purportedly derivative claims and to seek remedies only on behalf of the Company. The lawsuit currently alleges, among other things, that the Defendant Directors breached their fiduciary duties to the Company by terminating Mr. Cotter, Jr. as President and Chief Executive Officer, continuing to make use of the Executive Committee that has been in place for more than the past ten years, making allegedly potentially misleading statements in its press releases and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), paying certain compensation to Ms. Ellen Cotter, and allowing the Cotter Estate to make use of Class A Common Stock to pay for the exercise of certain long outstanding stock options held of record by the Cotter Estate. He seeks reinstatement as President and CEO and alleges as damages fluctuations in the price for our Company’s shares after the announcement of his termination as President and CEO and certain unspecified damages to our Company’s reputation. In a derivative action, the stockholder plaintiff seeks damages or other relief for the benefit of the Company, and not for the stockholder plaintiff’s individual benefit. Accordingly, the Company is, at least in theory, only a nominal defendant in such a derivative action. However, as a practical matter, because Mr. Cotter, Jr. is also seeking, among other things, an order that our Board’s determination to terminate Mr. Cotter Jr. was ineffective and that he be reinstated as the President and CEO of the Company and also disbanding our Board’s Executive Committee (an injunctive remedy that, if granted, would be binding on the Company), and as he asserts potentially misleading statements in certain press releases and filings with the SEC, the Company is incurring significant cost and expense defending the decision to terminate Mr. Cotter, Jr. as President and Chief Executive Officer, its board committee structure, and the adequacy of those press releases and filings. Also, the Company continues to incur costs promulgating and responding to discovery demands and satisfying indemnity obligations to the Defendant Directors. Our directors and officers liability insurer is providing insurance coverage, subject to a $500,000 deductible (which has now been exhausted) and its standard reservation of rights, with respect to the defense of the Director Defendants. Our new Directors, Dr. Judy Codding and Mr. Michael Wrotniak, are not named in the Cotter Jr. Derivative Action as they were not Directors at the time of the breaches of fiduciary duty alleged by Mr. Cotter, Jr. Pursuant to the terms of Mr. Cotter Jr.’s employment agreement with the Company, disputes relating to his employment are to be arbitrated. Accordingly, on July 14, 2015, the Company filed an arbitration demand with the American Arbitration Association against Mr. Cotter, Jr. The demand seeks declaratory relief, among other things, that Mr. Cotter, Jr.'s employment and employment agreement with the Company have been validly terminated and that the Board of Directors validly removed him from his positions as Chief Executive Officer and President of the Company and positions with the Company’s subsidiaries. Mr. Cotter, Jr. has filed a counter-complaint in the arbitration, asserting claims for breach of his employment contract, declaratory relief, and contractual indemnification. Mr. Cotter, Jr.’s counsel has advised that Mr. Cotter is seeking a variety of damages, including consequential damages, and that such claimed damages total not less than $1,000,000. On April 19, 2016, Mr. Cotter, Jr. filed an action in the District Court, Clark County, Nevada seeking to recover his costs of defending the Arbitration, plus compensatory damages and interest at the maximum legal rate. On August 6, 2015, the Company received notice that a Motion to Intervene in the Cotter Jr Derivative Action and that a proposed derivative complaint had been filed in the Nevada District Court captioned T2 Partners Management, LP, a Delaware limited partnership, doing business as Kase Capital Management; T2 Accredited Fund, LP, a Delaware limited partnership, doing business as Kase Fund; T2 Qualified Fund, LP, a Delaware limited partnership, doing business as Kase Qualified Fund; Tilson Offshore Fund, Ltd, a Cayman Islands exempted company; T2 Partners Management I, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, doing business as Kase Management: T2 Partners Management Group, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, doing business as Kase Group; JMG Capital Management, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, Pacific Capital Management, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, derivatively on behalf of Reading International, Inc. vs. Margaret Cotter, Ellen Cotter, Guy Adams, Edward Kane, Douglas McEachern, Timothy Storey, William Gould and Does 1 through 100, inclusive, as defendants, and, Reading International, Inc., a Nevada corporation, as Nominal Defendant (the “T2 Derivative Action” ). On August 11, 2015, the Court granted the motion of T2 Partners Management, LP et. al. (the “T2 Plaintiffs”), allowing these plaintiffs to file their complaint (the “T2 Derivative Complaint”). On September 9, 2015, certain of the Defendant Directors filed a Motion to Dismiss the T2 Derivative Complaint. The Company joined this Motion to Dismiss on September 14, 2015. The hearing on this Motion to Dismiss was vacated as the T2 Plaintiffs voluntarily withdrew the T2 Derivative Complaint, with the parties agreeing that T2 Plaintiffs would have leave to amend the Complaint. On February 12, 2016, The T2 plaintiff filed an amended T2 Derivative Complaint (the “Amended T2 Derivative Complaint”). The T2 Plaintiffs allege in their Amended T2 Derivative Complaint various violations of fiduciary duty, abuse of control, gross mismanagement and corporate waste by the Defendant Directors. More specifically the T2 Derivative Complaint seeks the reinstatement of James J. Cotter, Jr. as President and Chief Executive Officer and certain monetary damages, as well as equitable injunctive relief, attorney fees and costs of suit. Once again, the Company has been named as a nominal defendant. However, because the T2 Derivative Complaint also seeks the reinstatement of Mr. Cotter, Jr., as our President and CEO, it is being defended by the Company. In addition, the Company continues to incur costs promulgating and responding to discovery demands and satisfying indemnity obligations to the Defendant Directors. The Defendant Directors are the same as named in the Cotter Jr. Derivative Action as well as our two new Directors Dr. Judy Codding and Michael Wrotniak and Company legal counsel, Craig Tompkins. The cost of the defense of Directors Codding and Wrotniak is likewise being covered by our Directors and officer’s liability insurance carrier with the same reservations of right as in the Cotter Jr. Derivative Action, but without any separate deductible. The cost of the defense of Mr. Tompkins is being covered by the Company under its indemnity agreement with him. The Amended T2 Derivative Complaint has deleted its request for an order disbanding our Executive Committee and for an order “collapsing the Class A and B stock structure into a single class of voting stock.” The Amended T2 Complaint has added a request for an order setting aside the election results from the 2015 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, based on an allegation that Ellen Cotter and Margaret Cotter were not entitled to vote the shares of Class B Common Stock held by the Cotter Estate and the Cotter Trust. The Company and the other defendants contest the allegations of the T2 Plaintiffs. The Company followed applicable Nevada law in recognizing that Ellen Cotter and Margaret Cotter had the legal right and power to vote the shares of Class B Common Stock held of record by the Cotter Estate and the Cotter Trust, and the independent Inspector of Elections has certified the results of that election.. Furthermore, even if the election results were to be overturned or voided, this would have no impact on the current composition of our Board or any action taken by our Board since our 2015 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, as all of the nominees were standing for re-election and accordingly retain their directorships until their replacements are elected. The Company will vigorously contest any assertions by the T2 Plaintiffs challenging the voting at the 2015 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and believes that the court will rule for the Company should this issue ever reach the court. The case is current set for trial in November, 2016. The T2 Plaintiffs have not sought any expedited ruling from the Court with respect to their assertions that Ellen Cotter and Margaret Cotter did not have the right and power to vote the shares of Class B Common Stock held of record by the Cotter Estate and the Cotter Trust. The Company believes that the claims set forth in the Amended Cotter Jr. Derivative Complaint and the Amended T2 Derivative Complaint are entirely without merit and seek equitable remedies for which no relief can be given. The Company intends to defend vigorously against any claims against our officers and directors and against any attempt to reinstate Mr. Cotter, Jr. as President and Chief Executive Officer or to effect any changes in the rights of our Company’s stockholders. ﻿ THE STOMP ARBITRATION In April 2015, Liberty Theatres, LLC (“Liberty”), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, commenced an American Arbitration Association arbitration proceeding (Case No.:01-15-0003-3728) against The Stomp Company Limited Partnership (the “Producer”) in response to the Producer’s purported termination of their license agreement with Liberty relating to the long playing show STOMP. Liberty sought specific performance, injunctive and declaratory relief and damages. The Producer counterclaimed for unspecified damages, alleging that Liberty has interfered with the Producer’s endeavors to move the show to another Off-Broadway theater. The Producer based its purported termination of the license agreement upon the alleged deficient condition of the Orpheum Theater, in which STOMP has been playing for more than the past 20 years. On December 18, 2015, the Arbitrator issued his Partial Final Award of Arbitration, providing for, among other things (i) the issuance of a permanent injunction prohibiting the Producer from “transferring or taking actions to market, promote, or otherwise facilitate any transfer of, STOMP to another theatre in New York City having fewer than 500 seats without Liberty’s prior written consent”, (ii) the Producer’s Notice of Termination purportedly terminating the parties’ license agreement was invalid, null and void and the License Agreement remains in full force and effect, and (iii) the award to Liberty of its reasonable attorneys’ fees in an amount to be determined by the Arbitrator. The Company expects the final award of attorneys’ fees to be decided during the second quarter of 2016. In explaining his decision to award Liberty its reasonable attorneys’ fees, the Arbitrator stated as follows: “Liberty is entitled to such an award [of attorneys’ fees] not only because it is the prevailing party in this proceeding, but because [the Producer] unfairly disparaged the Orpheum and caused Liberty to incur attorneys’ fees in order to address and resolve [the Producer’s] groundless and frivolous allegations with respect to the Orpheum’s condition, Liberty’s performance under the License Agreement, and Stomp’s reasons for seeking to transfer STOMP to a larger theatre.”

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