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Note 7 - Contingencies
3 Months Ended
Mar. 02, 2013
Legal Matters and Contingencies [Text Block]
7. Contingencies

We are involved in various legal and environmental matters, which arise in the normal course of business. Although the final outcome of these matters cannot be determined, based on the facts presently known, we believe that the final resolution of these matters will not have a material adverse effect on our financial position or future results of operations.

In 2009, our former vendor, Colonial Trading, Inc. (“Colonial”), filed a lawsuit against us alleging, among other things, breach of contract by the Company after we cancelled orders for cribs following product recalls.  We filed counterclaims for breach of contract and warranty.  On August 1, 2012, a jury returned a verdict in favor of Colonial and in October 2012 judgment was entered in the amount of $1,437. Colonial’s motion for attorney’s fees is pending. Both Bassett and Colonial have appealed; with Bassett seeking a new trial for damages for breach of express warranty, among other things, and Colonial seeking, among other things, to treble its breach of contract damages.  We currently have sufficient reserves to cover the existing judgment amount.

During the year ended November 24, 2012,  the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“Customs”) made a distribution to us of $9,010 representing our share of the final distribution of duties that have been withheld by Customs under the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000 (“CDSOA”). We have received annual distributions in past years under the CDSOA as a result of our support of an antidumping petition on imports of wooden bedroom furniture from China. Certain manufacturers who did not support the antidumping petition (“Non-Supporting Producers”) filed actions in the United States Court of International Trade challenging the CDSOA's “support requirement” and seeking to share in the distributions. As a result, Customs held back a portion of those distributions (“the Holdback”) pending resolution of the Non-Supporting Producers' claims. The Court of International Trade dismissed all of the actions of the Non-Supporting Producers, who appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“the Court of Appeals”). While the Court of Appeals denied the Non-Supporting Producers request for an injunction to block the final distribution of the Holdback and allowed Customs to distribute the funds in April of 2012, the appeal is still pending before the court. Should the Court of Appeals reverse the decisions of the United States Court of International Trade which ordered the release of the final distribution, it is possible that Customs may seek to have us return all or a portion of our share of the distribution.

We lease land and buildings that are used in the operation of our Company-owned retail stores as well as in the operation of certain of our licensee-owned stores.  We had obligations of $74,682 and $72,800 at March 2, 2013 and November 24, 2012, respectively, for future minimum lease payments under non-cancelable operating leases having initial terms in excess of one year.

We also have guaranteed certain lease obligations of licensee operators.  Lease guarantees range from one to ten years. We were contingently liable under licensee lease obligation guarantees in the amount of $1,870 and $2,007 at March 2, 2013 and November 24, 2012, respectively.

In the event of default by an independent dealer under the guaranteed lease, we believe that the risk of loss is mitigated through a combination of options that include, but are not limited to, arranging for a replacement dealer, liquidating the collateral (primarily inventory), and pursuing payment under the personal guarantees of the independent dealer. The proceeds of the above options are expected to cover the estimated amount of our future payments under the guarantee obligations, net of recorded reserves. The fair value of lease guarantees (an estimate of the cost to the Company to perform on these guarantees) at March 2, 2013 and November 24, 2012 was not material.