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Commitments and Contingencies
12 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2016
Notes to Financial Statements  
Note 7 - Commitments and Contingencies

As at June 30, 2016, the Company does not have any commitments in respect of operating leases.

 

On September 12, 2013, the Company and certain of its current and former officers and directors (the “Liberty Silver Parties”) were named as defendants in a proposed securities class action lawsuit filed against Robert Genovese, certain individuals alleged to have collaborated with Mr. Genovese, and an offshore investment firm allegedly controlled by Mr. Genovese (the “Action,” Case No. 9:13-cv-80923-KLR, Stanaford v. Genovese et al.). The action alleged violations of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and rules thereunder relating to anomalous trading activity and fluctuations in the Company’s share price from August through October 2012.

 

On December 8, 2014, without in any way acknowledging any fault or liability, the Company reached a settlement in principle, providing for a payment of $1 million cash, to be paid by the Company's D&O insurance carriers. On August 17, 2015, with no admission of fault or liability by the Liberty Silver Parties, the Court approved the settlement class and fully and finally dismissed with prejudice all claims against Liberty Silver, Geoffrey Browne, and William Tafuri in the litigation. Although defendants continue to deny plaintiffs' allegations, the Company believed it was in the best interests of its stockholders to focus its attention on its business and put the matter behind it.

 

The Company had incurred substantial legal fees in prior fiscal years in connection with SEC and OSC cease trade orders issued in October 2012, and until March 31, 2016, those fees were being reported in accounts payable. As the legal fees were incurred, the Company submitted a claim for reimbursement from the insurance underwriter pursuant to the terms of its directors’ and officers’ insurance policy. The insurance underwriter denied coverage of this claim and the Company has since retained legal counsel, on a contingent fee basis, and is challenging the position taken by Liberty International Underwriters Inc., the insurance underwriter, through litigation. In connection with the substantial legal fees incurred by the Company with various law firms, the Company has entered into an assignment agreement (the “Assignment Agreement”) with the various law firms that are owed these fees. Pursuant to the Assignment Agreement, the Company has irrevocably assigned the net proceeds of the Company’s action against the insurance underwriter to each of the law firms that are owed fees in connection with the SEC and OSC cease trade orders. Each of the law firms have agreed, pursuant to the terms of the Assignment Agreement, to fully and finally release the Company from any and all claims, demands of causes of action, in respect of the accounts rendered by the law firms. As a result of entering into the Assignment Agreement with the various law firms that were owed fees in connection with the SEC and OSC cease trade orders, the Company was able to extinguish approximately $708,000 of liabilities from its balance sheet and record a corresponding legal fees expense recovery in the statements of operations. Without considering the legal fees expense recovery, the Company incurred approximately $41,834 in other legal fees related to normal operations.

 

Additionally, in the normal course of operations, certain other contingencies may arise relating to legal actions undertaken against the Company. In the opinion of management, whether the impact of such potential legal actions would have a material adverse effect on the Company's results of operations, liquidity, or its financial position, cannot be determined in advance.