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Commitments and Contingencies
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2020
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies Commitments and ContingenciesFrom time to time, the Company is involved in litigation and other proceedings, including matters related to commercial and intellectual property disputes, as well as trade, regulatory and other claims related to its business. Other than as described below, the Company believes that all current proceedings are routine in nature and incidental to the conduct of its business, and that the ultimate resolution of any such proceedings will not have a material adverse effect on its consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows.
In re Under Armour Securities Litigation
On March 23, 2017, three separate securities cases previously filed against the Company in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland (the “District Court”) were consolidated under the caption In re Under Armour Securities Litigation, Case No. 17-cv-00388-RDB (the “Consolidated Action”). On August 4, 2017, the lead plaintiff in the Consolidated Action, North East Scotland Pension Fund, joined by named plaintiff Bucks County Employees Retirement Fund, filed a consolidated amended complaint (the “Amended Complaint”) against the Company, the Company’s then-Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Plank, and former Chief Financial Officers Lawrence Molloy and Brad Dickerson. The Amended Complaint alleged violations of Section 10(b) (and Rule 10b-5) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) and Section 20(a) control person liability under the Exchange Act against the officers named in the Amended Complaint, claiming that the defendants made material misstatements and omissions regarding, among other things, the Company's growth and consumer demand for certain of the Company's products. The class period identified in the Amended Complaint is September 16, 2015 through January 30, 2017. The Amended Complaint also asserted claims under Sections 11 and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), in connection with the Company’s public offering of senior unsecured notes in June 2016. The Securities Act claims were asserted against the Company, Mr. Plank, Mr. Molloy, the Company’s directors who signed the registration statement pursuant to which the offering was made and the underwriters that participated in the offering. The Amended Complaint alleged that the offering materials utilized in connection with the offering contained false and/or misleading statements and omissions regarding, among other things, the Company’s growth and consumer demand for certain of the Company’s products.
On November 9, 2017, the Company and the other defendants filed motions to dismiss the Amended Complaint. On September 19, 2018, the District Court dismissed the Securities Act claims with prejudice and the Exchange Act claims without prejudice. The lead plaintiff filed a Second Amended Complaint on November 16, 2018, asserting claims under the Exchange Act and naming the Company and Mr. Plank as the remaining defendants. The remaining defendants filed a motion to dismiss the Second Amended Complaint on January 17, 2019. On August 19, 2019, the District Court dismissed the Second Amended Complaint with prejudice.
In September 2019, plaintiffs filed an appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit challenging the decisions by the District Court on September 19, 2018 and August 19, 2019 (the “Appeal”). The Appeal was fully briefed as of January 16, 2020. On November 18, 2019, before briefing on the Appeal was complete, the lead plaintiff filed in the District Court a motion for an indicative ruling under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 62.1 (the “Rule 62.1 Motion”) seeking relief from the final judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b). The Rule 62.1 Motion alleged that purported newly discovered evidence entitled the lead plaintiff to relief from the District Court’s final judgment. On January 22, 2020, the District Court granted the Rule 62.1 motion and indicated that it would grant a motion for relief from the final judgment and provide the lead plaintiff with the opportunity to file a third amended complaint if the Fourth Circuit remands for that purpose. The District Court further stated that it would, upon remand, consolidate the matter with Patel v. Under Armour, Inc. and Waronker v. Under Armour Inc., described below, and appoint the lead plaintiff of In re Under Armour Securities Litigation as the lead plaintiff over the consolidated cases.
The Company continues to believe that the claims are without merit and intends to defend the lawsuit vigorously. However, because of the inherent uncertainty as to the outcome of this proceeding, the Company is unable at this time to estimate the possible impact of this matter.
Patel v. Under Armour, Inc. and Waronker v. Under Armour, Inc.
On November 6, 2019, a purported shareholder of the Company filed a securities case in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland against the Company and the Company’s then-Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Plank, Chief Financial Officer, David Bergman, and then-Chief Operating Officer, Patrik Frisk, as well as former Chief Financial Officer Lawrence Molloy (captioned Patel v. Under Armour, Inc., No 1:19-cv-03209-RDB). The complaint alleges violations of Section 10(b) (and Rule 10b-5) of the Exchange Act, against all defendants, and Section 20(a) control person liability under the Exchange Act against the current and former officers named in the complaint. The complaint claims that the defendants’ disclosures and statements supposedly misrepresented or omitted that the Company was purportedly shifting sales between quarterly periods allegedly to appear healthier and that the Company was under investigation by and cooperating with the United States Department of Justice and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission since July 2017. The class period identified in the complaint is August 3, 2016 through November 1, 2019, inclusive.
On December 17, 2019, a purported shareholder of the Company filed a securities case in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland against the Company, Mr. Plank, Mr. Bergman, Mr. Frisk, and two former Chief Financial Officers of the Company (captioned Waronker v. Under Armour, Inc., No. 1:19-cv-03581-RDB). Like the Patel complaint, the Waronker complaint alleges violations of Section 10(b) (and Rule 10b-5) of the
Exchange Act, against all defendants, and Section 20(a) control person liability under the Exchange Act against the current and former officers named in the complaint. The complaint claims that the defendants’ disclosures and statements supposedly misrepresented or omitted that the Company was purportedly shifting sales between quarterly periods allegedly to appear healthier and that the Company was under investigation by and cooperating with the United States Department of Justice and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission since July 2017. The class period identified in the complaint is September 16, 2015 through November 1, 2019, inclusive.
The Court has not consolidated these cases or appointed a lead plaintiff and the Company has no pending deadline to respond to the complaint in either of these actions. As described above, the Court indicated in a January 22, 2020 decision in the In re Under Armour Securities Litigation case that it anticipated consolidating these cases with that matter and appointing the lead plaintiff in In re Under Armour Securities Litigation as the lead plaintiff over the consolidated cases, in the event that the Fourth Circuit remands the In re Under Armour Securities Litigation case.
The Company believes that the claims are without merit and intends to defend the lawsuits vigorously. However, because of the inherent uncertainty as to the outcome of these proceedings, the Company is unable at this time to estimate the possible impact of these matters.
Derivative Complaints
In June and July 2018, three purported stockholder derivative complaints were filed. Two of the complaints were filed in Maryland state court (in cases captioned Kenney v. Plank, et al. (filed June 29, 2018) and Luger v. Plank, et al. (filed July 26, 2018), respectively), and those cases were consolidated on October 19, 2018 under the caption Kenney v. Plank, et. al. The other complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland (in a case captioned Andersen v. Plank et al. (filed July 23, 2018)). The operative complaints in these cases name Mr. Plank, certain other members of the Company’s Board of Directors and certain former Company executives as defendants, and name the Company as a nominal defendant. The operative complaints include allegations similar to those in the In re Under Armour Securities Litigation matter discussed above that challenges, among other things, the Company’s disclosures related to growth and consumer demand for certain of the Company’s products and stock sales by certain individual defendants. The operative complaints in each of these cases assert breach of fiduciary duty and unjust enrichment claims against the individual defendants. These complaints seek damages on behalf of the Company and certain corporate governance related actions.
The operative complaint in the Kenney matter also makes allegations related to the Company’s purchase of certain parcels of land from entities controlled by Mr. Plank (through Sagamore Development Company, LLC (“Sagamore”)). Sagamore purchased the parcels in 2014. Its total investment in the parcels was approximately $72.0 million, which included the initial $35.0 million purchase price for the property, an additional $30.6 million to terminate a lease encumbering the property and approximately $6.4 million of development costs. As previously disclosed, in June 2016, the Company purchased the unencumbered parcels for $70.3 million in order to further expand the Company’s corporate headquarters to accommodate its growth needs. The Company negotiated a purchase price for the parcels that it determined represented the fair market value of the parcels and approximated the cost to the seller to purchase and develop the parcels. In connection with its evaluation of the potential purchase, the Company engaged an independent third-party to appraise the fair market value of the parcels, and the Audit Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors engaged its own independent appraisal firm to assess the parcels. The Audit Committee determined that the terms of the purchase were reasonable and fair, and the transaction was approved by the Audit Committee in accordance with the Company’s policy on transactions with related persons. The operative complaint asserts breach of fiduciary duty and corporate waste claims against the individual defendants in connection with the Company’s purchase of these parcels and a claim against Sagamore for supposedly aiding and abetting those alleged breaches.
Both actions are currently stayed. The Andersen action was stayed between December 2018 and August 2019 pursuant to a court order. In September 2019, pursuant to an agreement between the parties, the court in the Andersen action entered an order staying that case pending the resolution of the Appeal in In re Under Armour Securities Litigation. On March 29, 2019, the court in the consolidated Kenney action granted the Company’s and the defendants’ motion to stay that case pending the outcome of both the In re Under Armour Securities Litigation and an earlier-filed derivative action asserting similar claims relating to the Company’s purchase of parcels in Port Covington (which action has since been dismissed in its entirety).
Prior to the filing of the derivative complaints in Kenney v. Plank, et al., Luger v. Plank, et al., and Andersen v. Plank et al., each of the purported stockholders had sent the Company’s Board of Directors a letter demanding that the Company pursue claims similar to the claims asserted in the derivative complaints. Following an investigation, a majority of disinterested and independent directors of the Company determined that the claims should not be pursued by the Company and informed each of these purported stockholders of that determination.
The Company believes that the claims asserted in the derivative complaints are without merit and intends to defend these matters vigorously. However, because of the inherent uncertainty as to the outcome of these proceedings, the Company is unable at this time to estimate the possible impact of the outcome of these matters.
Wells Notices
In addition to the Company’s material pending legal proceedings, as previously disclosed, in July 2020, the Company, as well as Kevin Plank and David Bergman (together, the “Executives”), received “Wells Notices” from the SEC relating to the Company’s disclosures covering the third quarter of 2015 through the period ending December 31, 2016, regarding the use of “pull forward” sales in connection with revenue during those quarters. The Wells Notices informed the Company that the SEC Staff has made a preliminary determination to recommend that the SEC file an enforcement action against the Company and each of the Executives that would allege certain violations of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and certain rules promulgated thereunder. The Wells Notices delivered to the Executives also reference potential charges related to the Executives’ participation in the Company’s violations, as well as control person liability under the Exchange Act.
The potential relief to be sought referenced in the Wells Notices included an injunction, a cease-and-desist order, disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil monetary penalties, as well as, in the case of the Executives, a bar from serving as an officer or director of a public company. A Wells Notice is neither a formal charge of wrongdoing nor a final determination that the recipient has violated any law, and to date no legal proceedings have been brought against the Company or the Executives with respect to this matter. The Company and the Executives maintain that their actions were appropriate and intend to pursue the Wells Notice process, which will include the opportunity to respond to the SEC Staff’s position, and also expect to engage in a dialogue with the SEC Staff to work toward a resolution of this matter.
Data Incident
In 2018, an unauthorized third party acquired data associated with the Company's Connected Fitness users' accounts for the Company's MyFitnessPal application and website. The Company has faced consumer class action lawsuits associated with this incident and has received inquiries regarding the incident from certain government regulators and agencies. The Company does not currently consider these matters to be material and believes its insurance coverage will provide coverage should any significant expense arise.