Note 3—Retrospective Responsibility Plan

The Company has established several related mechanisms designed to address potential liability under certain litigation referred to as the “covered litigation." These mechanisms are included in and referred to as the retrospective responsibility plan, or the plan, and consist of a litigation escrow agreement, the conversion feature of the Company's shares of class B common stock, the indemnification obligations of the Visa U.S.A. members, an interchange judgment sharing agreement and a loss sharing agreement.

Covered litigation consists of:


•	The Discover Litigation. Discover Financial Services Inc. v. Visa U.S.A. Inc., Case No. 04-CV-07844 (S.D.N.Y) (settled);


•	The American Express Litigation. American Express Travel Related Services Co., Inc. v. Visa U.S.A. Inc. et al., No. 04-CV-0897 (S.D.N.Y.), which we refer to as the American Express litigation (settled);


•	The Attridge Litigation. Attridge v. Visa U.S.A. Inc. et al., Case No. CGC-04-436920 (Cal. Super.);

•

The Interchange Litigation. In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation, 1:05-md-01720-JG-JO (E.D.N.Y.) or MDL 1720, including all cases currently included in MDL 1720, any other case that includes claims for damages relating to the period prior to our initial public offering that has been or is transferred for coordinated or consolidated pre-trial proceedings at any time to MDL 1720 by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation or otherwise included at any time in MDL 1720 by order of any court of competent jurisdiction and Kendall v. Visa U.S.A., Inc. et al., Case No. CO4-4276 JSW (N.D. Cal.); and


•	any claim that challenges the reorganization or the consummation thereof; provided that such claim is transferred for coordinated or consolidated pre-trial proceedings at any time to MDL 1720 by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation or otherwise included at any time in MDL 1720 by order of any court of competent jurisdiction.

Litigation escrow agreement. In accordance with the litigation escrow agreement, the Company maintains an escrow account, from which settlements of, or judgments in, the covered litigation are paid. The amount of the escrow is determined by the board of directors and the Company's litigation committee, all members of which are affiliated with, or act for, certain Visa U.S.A. members. The escrow funds are held in money market investments along with the interest earned, less applicable taxes, and are classified as restricted cash on the consolidated balance sheets.

The following table sets forth the changes in the litigation escrow account:



	Fiscal 2012			Fiscal 2011
	(in millions)
Balance at October 1	$	2,857		$	1,936
Deposits into the litigation escrow account	1,715			1,200
American Express settlement payments	(140		)	(280		)
Interest earned, less applicable taxes	—			1
Balance at September 30	$	4,432		$	2,857
Individual Plaintiffs' Settlement Fund payment—(See Note 21—Legal Matters)	(350		)
Balance at October 29	$	4,082

An accrual for the covered litigation and a change to the litigation provision are recorded when loss is deemed to be probable and reasonably estimable. In making this determination, the Company evaluates available information, including but not limited to recommendations made by the litigation committee. The accrual related to the covered litigation could be either higher or lower than the litigation escrow account balance. The Company recorded an additional $4.1 billion accrual for the covered litigation during fiscal 2012. See Note 21—Legal Matters.

Conversion feature. Under the terms of the plan, when the Company funds the litigation escrow account, the shares of class B common stock are subject to dilution through an adjustment to the conversion rate of the shares of class B common stock to shares of class A common stock. This has the same effect on earnings per share as repurchasing the Company's class A common stock, by reducing the class B conversion rate and consequently the as-converted class A common stock share count. See Note 15—Stockholders' Equity.

Indemnification obligations. To the extent that amounts available under the litigation escrow arrangement and agreements in the plan are insufficient to fully resolve the covered litigation, the Company will use commercially reasonable efforts to enforce the indemnification obligations of Visa U.S.A.'s members for such excess amount, including but not limited to enforcing indemnification obligations pursuant to Visa U.S.A.'s certificate of incorporation and bylaws and in accordance with their membership agreements.

Interchange judgment sharing agreement. Visa U.S.A. and Visa International have entered into an interchange judgment sharing agreement with certain Visa U.S.A. members that have been named as defendants in the interchange litigation, which is described in Note 21—Legal Matters. Under this judgment sharing agreement, Visa U.S.A. members that are signatories will pay their membership proportion of the amount of a final judgment not allocated to the conduct of MasterCard.

Loss sharing agreement. Visa has entered into a loss sharing agreement with Visa U.S.A., Visa International and certain Visa U.S.A. members. The loss sharing agreement provides for the indemnification of Visa U.S.A., Visa International and, in certain circumstances, Visa with respect to: (i) the amount of a final judgment paid by Visa U.S.A. or Visa International in the covered litigation after the operation of the interchange judgment sharing agreement, plus any amounts reimbursable to the interchange judgment sharing agreement signatories; or (ii) the damages portion of a settlement of a covered litigation that is approved as required under Visa U.S.A.'s certificate of incorporation by the vote of Visa U.S.A.'s specified voting members. The several obligation of each bank that is a party to the loss sharing agreement will equal the amount of any final judgment enforceable against Visa U.S.A., Visa International or any other signatory to the interchange judgment sharing agreement, or the amount of any approved settlement of a covered litigation, multiplied by such bank's then-current membership proportion as calculated in accordance with Visa U.S.A.'s certificate of incorporation.

Omnibus agreement. Visa entered into an omnibus agreement with MasterCard and certain Visa U.S.A. members that confirmed and memorialized the signatories’ intentions with respect to the loss sharing agreement, the interchange judgment sharing agreement and other agreements relating to the interchange litigation. The Visa portion of a settlement or judgment in the interchange litigation covered by the omnibus agreement would be allocated in accordance with specified provisions of the retrospective responsibility plan. See Note 21—Legal Matters.