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Commitments and Contingencies
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2022
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies

17. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

 

Shareholder Derivative Lawsuit

 

On March 31, 2020, a shareholder derivative suit, captioned Johnson (Derivatively on behalf of ADTRAN) v. Stanton, et al., Case No. 5:20-cv-00447, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama against two of the Company’s current executive officers, one of its former executive officers, and certain current and former members of its Board of Directors, alleging, among other things, that the defendants made or caused the Company to make materially false and misleading statements regarding, and/or failed to disclose material adverse facts about, the Company’s business, operations and prospects, specifically relating to the Company’s internal control over financial reporting, excess and obsolete inventory reserves, financial results and demand from certain customers. The plaintiff in the shareholder derivative suit sent a demand letter dated June 29, 2021 to ADTRAN’s Board of Directors. The letter contains similar allegations to those made in the plaintiff’s filed complaint and in the now dismissed securities class action, and it demands, among other things, that the Board of Directors commence an investigation into the alleged wrongdoing. On December 10, 2021, after investigating the allegations in the plaintiff’s demand with the assistance of independent counsel, the independent members of the Board of Directors concluded that pursuing the claims asserted in the demand would not be in the Company's best interests and exercised their business judgment to refuse the demand. The plaintiff subsequently dismissed the case. On February 25, 2022, the Court entered an order on the parties’ joint stipulation dismissing the case without prejudice.

 

Other Legal Matters

 

In addition to the litigation described above, from time to time we are subject to or otherwise involved in various lawsuits, claims, investigations and legal proceedings that arise out of or are incidental to the conduct of our business (collectively, “Legal Matters”), including those relating to employment matters, patent rights, regulatory compliance matters, stockholder claims, and contractual and other commercial disputes. Such Legal Matters, even if not meritorious, could result in the expenditure of significant financial and managerial resources. Additionally, an unfavorable outcome in a legal matter, including in a patent dispute, could require the Company to pay damages, entitle claimants to other relief, such as royalties, or could prevent the Company from selling some of its products in certain jurisdictions. At this time, we are unable to predict the outcome of or estimate the possible loss or range of loss, if any, associated with such legal matters.

 

Performance Bonds

 

Certain contracts, customers and jurisdictions in which we do business require us to provide various guarantees of performance such as bid bonds, performance bonds and customs bonds. As of June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, we had commitments related to these bonds totaling $21.8 million and $22.9 million, respectively, which expire at various dates through April 2025. In general we would only be liable for the amount of these guarantees in the event of default under each contract, the probability of which we believe is remote.

 

In June 2020, the Company entered into a letter of credit with a bank to guarantee performance obligations under a contract with a certain customer. The obligations under this customer contract will be performed over multiple years. We reached the maximum value of our minimum collateral requirement of $15.0 million during the three months ended March 31, 2021 as the Company reached certain milestones through the first quarter of 2021 as outlined in the customer contract. In conjunction with the Company entering into the revolving credit facility with Wells Fargo during the three months ended June 30, 2022, our obligation to maintain the pledged collateral was released. This pledged collateral value fluctuated as the Company changed the mix of the pledged collateral between restricted cash and investments. Any shortfalls in the minimum collateral value was required to be restored by the Company from available cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments and/or long-term investments. For additional information on the Wells Fargo revolving credit facility see Note 12 of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Part I, Item 1 of this report.

 

Investment Commitment

 

We have committed to invest up to an aggregate of $5.0 million in a private equity fund, of which $4.9 million has been invested as of June 30, 2022.