AURA SYSTEMS INC 10-Q

ITEM 1. Legal Proceedings The Company is subject to legal proceedings and claims that have arisen in the ordinary course of business. Our management evaluates our exposure to these claims and proceedings individually and in the aggregate and evaluates potential losses on such litigation if the amount of the loss is estimable and the loss is probable. However, the outcome of legal proceedings and claims brought against the Company is subject to significant uncertainty. Although management considers the likelihood of such an outcome to be remote, if one or more of these legal matters were resolved against the Company for amounts in excess of management’s expectations, the Company’s financial statements for that reporting period could be materially adversely affected. In 2017, the Company’s former COO was awarded approximately $238,000 in accrued salary and related charges by the California labor board. In August 2021, the Company reached a settlement by which the Company agreed to pay approximately $330,000, representing the principal award plus accrued interest. As of the time of this filing, the Company has paid approximately $134,900 toward the settlement amount. The remaining balance of approximately $195,100 is to be paid no later than September 1, 2022, and accrues interest of 10% per annum until paid. Since July 2017 the Company has been engaged in litigation with a former director, Robert Kopple, relating to more than $13 million and the current equivalent of the approximately 23 million warrants, exercisable for seven years at a price of $0.10 per share, which Mr. Kopple and his affiliated entities (collectively the “Kopple Parties”) claimed should have been originally issued to them pursuant to various agreements with the Company entered to between 2013-2016. In March 2022, the Company reached a settlement with the Kopple Parties that resolves all claims asserted against the Company without any admission, concession or finding of any fault, liability or wrongdoing on the part of the Company. Under the terms of the settlement, we have agreed to pay an aggregate amount of $10 million over a period of seven years; $3 million of which was originally to be paid in June 2022, and subsequently extended to July 2022, after which, interest will accrue on the unpaid balance at a rate of 6%, compounded annually. All amounts, including all accrued interest, are to be paid no later than eight years from the date of the initial payment. The Kopple Parties have also received seven-year warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of approximately 3.3 million shares of our common stock at a price of $0.85 per share. The settlement also provides for standard mutual general release provisions and includes customary representations, warranties, and covenants, including certain increases in the amount payable to the Kopple Parties and the right of such parties to enter judgment against the Company if the Company remains in uncured default in its payment obligations under the settlement. As of the date of this report, the Company has not yet paid the full $3,000,000 installment due to Kopple; having made a partial payment in June 2022. On March 26, 2019, various stockholders of the Company controlling a combined total of more than 27.5 million shares delivered a signed written consent to the Company removing Ronald Buschur as a member of the Company’s Board and electing Cipora Lavut as a director of the Company. On March 27, 2019, those same stockholders delivered a further signed written consent to the Company removing William Anderson and Si Ryong Yu as members of the Company’s Board and electing Robert Lempert and David Mann as directors of the Company. These written consents represented a majority of the outstanding shares of the Company’s common stock as of March 26, 2019 and March 27, 2019, respectively. Because of Aura’s refusal to recognize the legal effectiveness of the consents, on April 8, 2019 the stockholders filed suit in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware pursuant to Section 225 of the Delaware General Corporations Law, seeking an order confirming the validity of the consents and declaring that Aura’s Board consists of Ms. Lavut, Mr. Mann, Dr. Lempert, Mr. Douglas and Mr. Diaz-Versón, Jr. On July 8, 2019 the Court of Chancery entered final judgment in favor of the stockholder plaintiffs, confirming that (a) Ronald Buschur, Si Ryong Yu and William Anderson had been validly removed by the holders of a majority of the Company’s outstanding stock acting by written consent (b) Ms. Lavut, Mr. Mann and Dr. Lempert had been validly elected by the holders of a majority of the Company’s outstanding stock acting by written consent, and (c) the Company’s Board of Directors validly consists of Cipora Lavut, David Mann, Robert Lempert, Gary Douglas and Salvador Diaz-Versón, Jr. As a result of prior management’s unsuccessful opposition to this stockholders’ action filed in the Court of Chancery, such stockholders may be potentially entitled to recoup their litigation costs from the Company under Delaware’s corporate benefit doctrine and/or other legal provisions. To-date, no final determination has been made as to the amount of recoupment, if any, to which such stockholders may be entitled. 28 In July 2022, Melvin Gagerman, our former CEO and CFO, brought suit against the Company relating to a 2014 unsecured demand note in the original amount of $82,000. With interest, Gagerman claims to now be owed a total of approximately $150,000. The Company disputes that this note is presently enforceable against the Company and that the demanded amount is owed to Gagerman. ITEM 1A. Risk Factors In addition to the other information set forth in this report, you should carefully consider the risk factors disclosed in Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” of the Company’s Fiscal 2022 Annual Report on Form 10-K issued on June 21, 2022.