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Litigation
Feb. 29, 2012
Notes to Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Commitments, Contingencies and Guarantees
Note 12.  Commitments and Contingencies
 
The Company is involved in legal proceedings and is subject to investigations, inspections, audits, inquiries and similar actions by governmental authorities, arising in the normal course of the Company’s business.  Litigation, in general, and securities and class action litigation, in particular, can be expensive and disruptive.  Some of these suits may purport or may be determined to be class actions and/or involve parties seeking large and/or indeterminate amounts, including punitive or exemplary damages, and may remain unresolved for several years.  The results of legal proceedings are often uncertain and difficult to predict, and the costs incurred in litigation can be substantial, regardless of the outcome.
 
On a quarterly basis, the Company assesses its liabilities and contingencies for outstanding legal proceedings and reserves are established on a case-by-case basis for those legal claims for which management concludes that it is probable that a loss will be incurred and that the amount of such loss can be reasonably estimated. Management's assessment of current litigation and other legal proceedings, including the corresponding accruals, could change because of the discovery of facts with respect to legal actions or other proceedings pending against the Company which are not presently known.  Adverse determinations by judges, juries or other parties could also result in changes to management’s assessment of current liabilities and contingencies.  The ultimate costs of resolving these claims may be substantially higher or lower than the amounts reserved.  Due to the inherent difficulty of predicting the outcome of litigation and other legal proceedings, the Company cannot predict the eventual outcome of these matters, and it is reasonably possible that some of them could be resolved unfavorably to the Company.  As a result, it is possible that the Company’s results of operations or cash flows in a particular fiscal period could be materially affected by an unfavorable resolution of pending litigation or contingencies.  However, based on its current knowledge, management does not expect reasonably possible losses relating to the outcome of current litigation and legal proceedings, after consideration of applicable reserves and rights to indemnification, to be material to the Company’s consolidated financial position.