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Commitments and Contingencies | 6 Months Ended
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Jul. 30, 2011
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies | Commitments and Contingencies From time to time, the Company is involved in litigation arising from the operation of its business that is considered routine and incidental to its business. The Company does not expect the results of any of these actions to have a material adverse effect on its business, results of operations or financial condition. The Company has become the subject of several class action lawsuits filed in various states, where the plaintiffs alleged the Company failed to comply with federal and state overtime laws and that it failed to pay them overtime because assistant store managers were misclassified as exempt from overtime pay. In January 2010, the Company and the attorneys for the plaintiffs jointly announced a settlement of these suits initially recording a charge of $42.0 million, including interest, class counsel’s attorney’s fees and a previous jury verdict obtained in February 2009 for one of these class action lawsuits. Under the terms of the settlement, the Company does not admit to any wrongdoing in connection with misclassification and resolves claims for damages as far back as 2002 that cover approximately 5,500 current and former associates. In connection with the 1991 acquisition of Agena S.A., Corporate Express initiated legal proceedings against Befec (a predecessor of PricewaterhouseCoopers, France), the accountants who certified the acquisition balance sheet. Corporate Express claimed damages totaling EUR 134 million plus interest and fees. In October 2010, the Commercial Court in France issued its judgment in this case and did not award any of the claimed damages to Corporate Express. The Company is currently appealing the judgment. At the time the Corporate Express tender offer was fully settled on July 23, 2008, Staples had acquired more than 99% of the outstanding capital stock of Corporate Express. Staples has worked diligently to acquire the remaining capital stock of Corporate Express by means of a compulsory judicial “squeeze out” procedure in accordance with the Dutch Civil Code. Staples and the other parties to the “squeeze out” procedure have submitted their arguments to the Enterprise Division of the Court of Appeal in Amsterdam (the “Court”) and are awaiting final judgment. Staples received an interim judgment from the Court, which resulted in the appointment of a team of independent experts to determine the correct valuation for the outstanding shares of Corporate Express. The Company expects the valuation report to be completed by October 2011. Staples anticipates the Court will issue a final judgment as soon as possible after the valuation report is completed. Any additional payments will be recorded in equity pursuant to ASC Topic 810, “Noncontrolling Interest in Consolidated Financial Statements.”

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