LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
−Removed: The Company is currently a defendant in a number of personal injury lawsuits, claiming that the death or other serious injury of the plaintiffs was caused by consumption of Monster Energy® brand energy drinks.
−Removed: The plaintiffs in these lawsuits allege strict product liability, negligence, fraudulent concealment, breach of implied warranties and wrongful death.
−Removed: The Company believes that each complaint is without merit and plans a vigorous defense.
−Removed: The Company also believes that any damages, if awarded, would not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial position or results of operations.
−Removed: Furthermore, from time to time in the normal course of business, the Company is named in other litigation, including consumer class actions, intellectual property litigation and claims from prior distributors.
−Removed: Although it is not possible to
−Removed: predict the ultimate outcome of such litigation, based on the facts known to the Company, management believes that such litigation in aggregate will likely not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial position or results of operations.
−Removed: The Company evaluates, on a quarterly basis, developments in legal proceedings and other matters that could cause an increase or decrease in the amount of the liability that is accrued, if any, or in the amount of any related insurance reimbursements recorded.
+Added: From time to time in the normal course of business, the Company is named in litigation, including labor and employment matters, personal injury matters, consumer class actions, intellectual property matters and claims from prior distributors.
+Added: Although it is not possible to predict the ultimate outcome of such litigation, based on the facts known to the Company, management believes that such litigation in aggregate will likely not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial position or results of operations.
+Added: On September 18, 2020, a derivative complaint was filed on purported behalf of the Company in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
+Added: The action is styled Falat v.
+Added: Sacks, et al., 8:20-cv-01782 , and asserts claims against certain officers, current and former directors, and employees of the Company, including Rodney C.
+Added: Sacks, Hilton H.
+Added: Schlosberg, Guy P.
+Added: Carling, Thomas J.
+Added: Kelly, Emelie C.
+Added: Tirre, Mark J.
+Added: Hall, Kathleen E.
+Added: Ciaramello, Gary P.
+Added: Fayard, Jeanne P.
+Added: Jackson, Steven G.
+Added: Pizula, Benjamin M.
+Added: Polk, Sydney Selati and Mark S.
+Added: Vidergauz (collectively, the “Individual Defendants”).
+Added: The Company is named as a nominal defendant.
+Added: The derivative complaint alleges, among other things, that the Individual Defendants breached their fiduciary duties to the Company by allowing others to cause, or themselves causing, the Company to hide discrimination and failing to ensure sufficient diversity, including by permitting conduct to occur that was inconsistent with statements made in the Company’s policies and disclosures, and failing to ensure the Company’s compliance with laws regarding diversity and anti-discrimination.
+Added: The complaint also asserts claims for abuse of control, unjust enrichment and violation of Section 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”).
+Added: The complaint seeks from the Individual Defendants an unspecified amount of damages, restitution, punitive damages and costs to be paid to the Company, and seeks to require the Company to adopt corporate governance reforms, and other equitable relief.
+Added: On January 15, 2021, the Company filed a motion to dismiss the action because the plaintiff failed to make a demand on the Company as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23.1 or to show that demand would have been futile.
+Added: The Individual Defendants also filed a motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim against the Individual Defendants, among other reasons.
+Added: Those motions are scheduled for hearing in the 2021 second quarter.
+Added: While the Company continues to evaluate these claims, management believes that such litigation will likely not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial position or results of operations.
+Added: The Company evaluates, on a quarterly basis, developments in legal proceedings and other matters that could cause an increase or decrease in the amount of the liability that is accrued, if any, and any related insurance reimbursements.
As of December 31, 2020, the Company’s consolidated balance sheet included accrued loss contingencies of approximately $18.4 million.
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Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.