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COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES  
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

16. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

 

Leases

 

On November 30, 2011, the Company entered into a commercial lease for 26,342 square feet of office, laboratory and manufacturing space in Cambridge, Massachusetts (as amended on September 17, 2012 and October 31, 2017, the “Cambridge Lease”). The term of the Cambridge Lease is six years and three months, with one five‑year extension option. On August 21, 2017, the Company exercised its option for the five-year extension on the Cambridge Lease. The five-year renewal lease term commences on November 1, 2018 and ends on October 31, 2023. The terms of the Cambridge Lease require a standby letter of credit in the amount of $311 (see Note 2).

 

The Cambridge Lease contains rent holidays and rent escalation clauses. The Company recognizes rent expense on a straight-line basis over the term of the Cambridge Lease and records the difference between the amount charged to expense and the rent paid as a deferred rent liability. As of December 31, 2017 and 2016, the amount of the deferred rent liability is $397 and $276, respectively.

 

It is the Company’s policy to assess whether improvements made to the space rented under operating leases should be accounted for as “lessor” or “lessee” assets. Such costs are recorded as leasehold improvements, which are amortized to rent expense over the term of the Cambridge Lease. As of December 31, 2017 and 2016, such leasehold improvements totaled $61 and $143, net of accumulated depreciation.

 

Pursuant to the terms of the non‑cancelable lease agreements in effect at December 31, 2017, the future minimum rent commitments are as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Year Ended December 31,

    

    

 

 

2018

 

 

1,380

 

2019

 

 

1,959

 

2020

 

 

2,018

 

2021

 

 

2,078

 

2022

 

 

2,141

 

Thereafter

 

 

1,828

 

Total

 

$

11,404

 

 

Total rent expense for the years ended December 31, 2017,  2016, and 2015, including month‑to‑month leases, was $1,231,  $918 and $1,123, respectively.

 

On March 31, 2016, the Company entered into a short-term lease, as subtenant, to sub-lease 5,233 square feet of our Facility (the “Sublease”). The lease term was from April 1, 2016 through January 31, 2017. On March 31, 2016, the Company received $51 covering the first month’s rent and a security deposit under the terms of the Sublease. The funds received for the security deposit, $26, were classified as a component of accrued expenses on balance sheet as of December 31, 2016. In connection with the CRISPR Sublease, the Company received sublease income of $26 and $230 for the year ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively, which was recorded as an offset to rent expense. The Sublease was terminated on January 31, 2017.

 

On June 13, 2017, the Company entered into a short-term lease, as subtenant, to sublease 5,233 square feet of the Facility (the “Moderna Sublease”). The lease term is from July 1, 2017 through October 26, 2018. On June 19, 2017, the Company received a $55 security deposit under the terms of the Moderna Sublease. This security deposit is classified as a component of accrued expenses on the balance sheet as of December 31, 2017. In connection with the Moderna Sublease, the Company received sublease income of $164 for the year ended December 31, 2017, which was recorded as an offset to rent expense.

 

Compensation Commitment

 

The Company entered into a compensation arrangement with an executive during September 2016 which provided for a future cash payment by the Company to the executive based on the February 13, 2017 stock price of the executive’s former employer. The award was earned over a period of one year. The expense related to the compensation arrangement was $174 and $101 for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 respectively. As of December 31, 2017 we had made all payments to the executive.

 

Lawsuits with Former Employee

 

In November 2013, the Company filed a lawsuit against Francis Reynolds, its former Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, in Middlesex Superior Court, Middlesex County, Massachusetts (InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. v. Reynolds, Civil Action No. 13-5004). The complaint alleges breaches of fiduciary duties, breach of contract, conversion, misappropriation of corporate assets, unjust enrichment, and corporate waste, and seeks monetary damages and an accounting. The lawsuit involves approximately $500 worth of personal and/or exorbitant expenses that the Company alleges Mr. Reynolds inappropriately caused it to pay while he was serving as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, President, and Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors. On December 6, 2013, Mr. Reynolds answered the complaint, and filed counterclaims against the Company and the Company’s Board of Directors. The counterclaims allege two counts of breach of contract, two counts of breach of the covenant of good faith and fair-dealing, and tortious interference with a contract, and seek monetary damages and a declaratory judgment. The counterclaims related to Mr. Reynolds’s allegations that the Company and the Company’s Board of Directors interfered with the performance of his duties under the terms of his employment agreement, and that Mr. Reynolds was entitled to additional shares upon the exercise of certain stock options that he did not receive. On January 9, 2014, the Company, along with the directors named in the counterclaims, filed the Company’s answer denying that Mr. Reynolds is entitled to any relief. The parties have completed discovery. On March 3, 2017, the counterclaim defendants filed a motion for summary judgement on all counterclaims asserted by Mr. Reynolds. On October 18, 2017, the Court allowed the motion for summary judgment in substantial part, and denied it in part. The Court, citing disputed issues of fact, declined to dismiss the counterclaims for breach of contract, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and declaratory judgment concerning Mr. Reynolds’ attempted exercise of certain stock options, which Mr. Reynolds claims is the equivalent of 47,864 shares of common stock, but dismissed all other claims asserted by Mr. Reynolds. The trial is scheduled to begin on June 16, 2018.

 

The Company intends to continue to defend itself against these claims and, to date, the Company has not recorded any provision for losses that may arise.