Item 1. Legal Proceedings
ITEM 1. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
On August 19, 2019, we filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against three former executives of the Company who were founders of Firestorm (the “Firestorm Principals”)—Rekor Systems, Inc. v. Suzanne Loughlin, et al., Case no. 1:19-cv-07767-VEC. The Complaint alleges that the Firestorm Principals fraudulently induced the execution of the Membership Interest Purchase Agreement wherein Firestorm was acquired by the Company. The Complaint requests equitable rescission of that transaction, or, alternatively, monetary damages.
Following an initial amended complaint, answer and counterclaims, and defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings, on January 30, 2020, we filed a Second Amended Complaint, which the Firestorm Principals answered together with counterclaims on February 28, 2020. Thereafter, on March 30, we moved to dismiss certain counterclaims against certain directors and officers named as counterclaim-defendants, which resulted in the Firestorm Principals voluntarily dismissing the counterclaims against those parties. Thereafter we filed our response and affirmative defenses to the Counterclaims on April 22, 2020. On April 27, 2020, the Firestorm Principals filed a Motion for Partial Judgment on the Pleadings, which we have opposed. In addition, on December 9, 2019, the Firestorm Principals filed a motion for an interim award of expenses and attorney’s fees. With respect to the Firestorm Principals’ motion for judgment on the pleadings, the Court’s November 23, 2020 order denied that motion in its entirety. In that same order, the Court granted in part and denied in part the Firestorm Principals’ fee advance motion.
On April 27, 2021, the Firestorm Principals filed a notice of motion for partial summary judgment, seeking summary judgment on several of our claims and the Firestorm Principals’ counterclaims, along with supporting declarations and exhibits. After the Court decided to allow the proposed motion to proceed, we, along with counterclaim-defendants Firestorm Franchising, LLC and Firestorm Solutions, LLC, filed their opposition to the partial summary judgment motion on June 21, 2021. The Firestorm Principals filed their reply in support of their partial summary judgment motion on July 9, 2021.
In 2020, the Firestorm Principals filed various suits in New York, Delaware and Virginia against our directors and officers, alleging breach of fiduciary duty and libel. The defendants in the suits moved to dismiss the amended complaint. At this stage of these litigations, suits against two of the directors have been dismissed and one has been permitted to proceed. On September 28, 2021, the Court issued an order denying the motion to dismiss. On October 21, 2021, the Delaware Action defendants filed a motion for reconsideration of the Court’s September 28, 2021 order.
At this stage of these litigations, we are unable to render an opinion regarding the likelihood of a favorable outcome. The we intend to continue vigorously litigating its claims against the Firestorm Principals and believe that the Firestorm Principals’ remaining counterclaims and suits against Rekor directors and officers are without merit.
On January 31, 2020, our wholly owned subsidiary, OpenALPR, filed a complaint in the US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against a former customer, Plate Capture Solutions, Inc. (“PCS”) for breach of software license agreements pursuant to which software was licensed to PCS. On June 14, 2020, PCS filed its operative answer to the Complaint. On June 21, 2020, PCS filed a motion to join us and another entity, OpenALPR Technology, Inc., as parties to the litigation and made claims against them and counter claims against OpenALPR for defamation, fraud and intentional interference with existing and future business relationships. On July 13, 2020, OpenALPR filed an opposition to the motion for joinder. On November 23, 2020, the court denied PCS’s Motion for Joinder with prejudice. On August 30, 2021, OpenALPR and PCS filed a joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice, and the court ordered dismissal of the case with prejudice on August 31, 2021. We consider this matter closed.
On September 18, 2020, Fordham Financial Management, Inc. (“Fordham”) commenced a lawsuit against us in the Supreme Court for the State of New York, New York County. Fordham alleges that we breached an underwriting agreement with Fordham. Fordham has brought claims for breach of contract, a declaratory judgment, and attorneys’ fees and expenses, and seeks damages. The Complaint was served to us on September 25, 2020. We issued a motion to dismiss counterclaims on June 23, 2021, our opposition has been filed and Fordham’s reply will be due on August 19, 2021. The Court granted Fordham’s motion to dismiss our counterclaims on October 21, 2021.
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At this stage of the Fordham litigation, we are unable to render an opinion regarding the likelihood of a favorable outcome. However, we maintain that Fordham’s claims have no merit. To that end we intend to vigorously litigate this action.
In June 2021, a putative shareholder class action lawsuit (captioned Miller v. Rekor Systems, Inc. et al.) was filed in in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, naming as defendants Rekor Systems, Inc. and certain of its officers. It alleges violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) and Rule 10b-5 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 related to our automatic license plate recognition technology and uninsured vehicle enforcement diversion related business and seeks damages on behalf of shareowners who acquired our stock between April 12, 2019 and May 25, 2021. The court has appointed a lead plaintiff. In November 2021, the plaintiff filed an order of dismissal, seeking to voluntarily dismiss without prejudice the Lawsuit that it had filed against us and several of our executives.
In addition, from time to time, we may be named as a party to various other lawsuits, claims and other legal and regulatory proceedings that arise in the ordinary course of business. These actions typically seek, among other things, compensation for alleged personal injury, breach of contract, property damage, infringement of proprietary rights, punitive damages, civil penalties or other losses, or injunctive or declaratory relief. With respect to such lawsuits, claims and proceedings we accrue reserves when a loss is probable, and the amount of such loss can be reasonably estimated. It is our opinion that the outcome of these proceedings, individually and collectively, will not be material to our consolidated financial statements as a whole.
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