Wyndham Worldwide (WYN)

 

The Company is involved in claims, legal proceedings and governmental inquiries related to contract disputes, business practices, intellectual property and other matters relating to the Company’s business, including, without limitation, commercial, employment, tax and environmental matters. Such matters include, but are not limited to: (i) for the Company’s vacation ownership business, alleged failure to perform duties arising under management agreements, and claims for construction defects and inadequate maintenance (which are made by property owners’ associations from time to time); and (ii) for the Company’s vacation exchange and rentals business, breach of contract claims by both affiliates and members in connection with their respective agreements and bad faith and consumer protection claims asserted by members. See Part I, Item 3, “Legal Proceedings” for a description of claims and legal actions arising in the ordinary course of the Company’s business. See also Note 22—Separation Adjustments and Transactions with Former Parent and Subsidiaries regarding contingent litigation liabilities resulting from the Separation.

 

The Company believes that it has adequately accrued for such matters with reserves of approximately $8 million at December 31, 2008. Such amount is exclusive of matters relating to the Separation. For matters not requiring accrual, the Company believes that such matters will not have a material adverse effect on its results of operations, financial position or cash flows based on information currently available. However, litigation is inherently unpredictable and, although the Company believes that its accruals are adequate and/or that it has valid defenses in these matters, unfavorable resolutions could occur. As such, an adverse outcome from such unresolved proceedings for which claims are awarded in excess of the amounts accrued, if any, could be material to the Company with respect to earnings or cash flows in any given reporting period. However, the Company does not believe that the impact of such unresolved litigation should result in a material liability to the Company in relation to its consolidated financial position or liquidity.

 

 

The Company is involved in claims, legal proceedings and governmental inquiries related to contract disputes, business practices, intellectual property and other matters relating to the Company’s business, including, without limitation, commercial, employment, tax and environmental matters. Such matters include, but are not limited to: (i) for the Company’s vacation ownership business, alleged failure to perform duties arising under management agreements, and claims for construction defects and inadequate maintenance (which are made by property owners’ associations from time to time); and (ii) for the Company’s vacation exchange and rentals business, breach of contract claims by both affiliates and members in connection with their respective agreements and bad faith and consumer protection claims asserted by members. See Note 20—Separation Adjustments and Transactions with Former Parent and Subsidiaries regarding contingent litigation liabilities resulting from the Separation.

 

The Company believes that it has adequately accrued for such matters with reserves of approximately $33 million at December 31, 2007, or, for matters not requiring accrual, believes that such matters will not have a material adverse effect on its results of operations, financial position or cash flows based on information currently available. However, litigation is inherently unpredictable and, although the Company believes that its accruals are adequate and/or that it has valid defenses in these matters, unfavorable resolutions could occur. As such, an adverse outcome from such unresolved proceedings for which claims are awarded in excess of the amounts accrued, if any, could be material to the Company with respect to earnings or cash flows in any given reporting period. However, the Company does not believe that the impact of such unresolved litigation should result in a material liability to the Company in relation to its consolidated financial position or liquidity.

 

The Company is involved in claims, legal proceedings and governmental inquiries related to contract disputes, business practices, intellectual property and other matters relating to the Company’s business, including, without limitation, commercial, employment, tax and environmental matters. Such matters include, but are not limited to, allegations that (i) the Company’s vacation ownership business violated alleged duties to members of its internal vacation exchange program through changes made to its reservations and availability policies, which changes diminished the value of vacation ownership interests purchased by members; (ii) its TripRewards loyalty program infringes on third-party patents; (iii) the Company’s RCI Points exchange program, a global points-based exchange network that allows members to redeem points, is an unlicensed travel club and the unregistered sales of memberships in that program violate the Alberta Fair Trading Act and (iv) the Company’s vacation ownership business alleged failure to perform its duties arising under its management agreements, as well as for construction defects and inadequate maintenance, which claims are made by property owners’ associations from time to time. See Note 20—Separation Adjustments and Transactions with Former Parent and Subsidiaries regarding contingent litigation liabilities resulting from the Separation.

 

The Company believes that it has adequately accrued for such matters with a reserve of approximately $24 million, or, for matters not requiring accrual, believes that such matters will not have a material adverse effect