Note 11 - Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Notes to Financial Statements

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Text Block]

11.    Commitments and Contingencies

From time-to-time, the Company is involved in various legal matters arising in the ordinary course of business. These claims and legal proceedings are of a nature that we believe are normal and incidental to a homebuilder. We make provisions for loss contingencies when they are probable and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. Such provisions are assessed at least quarterly and adjusted to reflect the impact of any settlement negotiations, judicial and administrative rulings, advice of legal counsel, and other information and events pertaining to a particular case. During 2019, we recorded litigation reserves totaling $5.9 million related to ordinary course litigation which developed and became probable and estimable within the 2019 fourth quarter. Further, as a result of the development of the construction defect related claims within the litigation reserve and their impact to the Company’s litigation reserve estimates for IBNR future construction defect claims, we recorded an additional $5.0 million of IBNR construction defect claim reserves resulting in aggregate litigation reserves totaling $10.9 million as of December 31, 2019. Because the self-insured retention deductibles had been met for each claim covered by the $5.9 million reserve, and the self-insured retention deductibles are expected to be met for the $5.0 million IBNR construction defect claim reserves, the Company recorded estimated insurance receivables of $10.9 million offsetting the related litigation reserves as of December 31, 2019.  During 2020, $4.7 million was paid by our insurance carrier directly to claimants related to two claims, and the Company reduced its litigation reserve estimate by $0.2 million for one claim and reduced its IBNR litigation reserve by a net $0.4 million, resulting in a litigation reserve balance of $5.6 million at December 31, 2020.  The net $0.4 million adjustment was comprised of a decrease in $1.0 million to the reserve, partially offset by $0.6 million in expense recorded related to additional self-insured retention deductibles for certain projects.  The litigation insurance receivable decreased during 2020 due to $4.7 million paid by our insurance carrier directly to claimants related to two claims, and the Company reduced its insurance receivable estimate by $0.2 million for one claim and adjusted its IBNR litigation reserve by $1.2 million, resulting in an insurance receivable balance of $4.8 million at December 31, 2020. Due to the inherent uncertainty and judgement used in these assumptions, our actual costs and related insurance recoveries could differ significantly from amounts currently estimated. Please refer to Note 1, Note 7 and Note 8 for more information on litigation reserves for construction defect claims and related insurance recoveries. In view of the inherent unpredictability of litigation, we generally cannot predict their ultimate resolution, related timing or eventual loss.

As an owner and developer of real estate, the Company is subject to various environmental laws of federal, state and local governments. The Company is not aware of any environmental liability that could have a material adverse effect on its financial condition or results of operations. However, changes in applicable environmental laws and regulations, the uses and conditions of real estate in the vicinity of the Company’s real estate and other environmental conditions of which the Company is unaware with respect to the real estate could result in future environmental liabilities.

The Company has provided credit enhancements in connection with certain joint venture borrowings in the form of loan-to-value ("LTV") maintenance agreements in order to secure the joint venture's performance under the loans and maintenance of certain LTV ratios.  For unconsolidated joint ventures where the Company provided LTV enhancements, the Company has also entered into agreements with some of its unconsolidated joint venture partners whereby the Company and its partners are apportioned liability under the LTV maintenance agreements according to their respective capital interest. In addition, these agreements provide the Company, to the extent its partner has an unpaid liability under such LTV credit enhancements, the right to receive distributions from the unconsolidated joint venture that would otherwise be made to the partner. However, there is no guarantee that such distributions will be made or will be sufficient to cover the Company's liability under such LTV maintenance agreements. The loans underlying the LTV maintenance agreements include acquisition and development loans, construction revolvers and model home loans, and the agreements remain in force until the loans are satisfied. Due to the nature of the loans, the outstanding balance at any given time is subject to a number of factors including the status of site improvements, the mix of horizontal and vertical development underway, the timing of phase build outs, and the period necessary to complete the escrow process for homebuyers. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, $0 and $28.6 million, respectively, was outstanding under loans that are credit enhanced by the Company through LTV maintenance agreements. Under the terms of the joint venture agreements, the Company's proportionate share of LTV maintenance agreement liabilities was $0 and $5.8 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2020 and 2019.

In addition, the Company has provided completion agreements regarding specific performance for certain joint venture projects whereby the Company is required to complete the given project with funds provided by the beneficiary of the agreement. If there are not adequate funds available under the specific project loans, the Company would then be subject to financial liability under such completion agreements. Typically, under such terms of the joint venture agreements, the Company has the right to apportion the respective share of any costs funded under such completion agreements to its partners. However, there is no guarantee that we will be able to recover against our partners for such amounts owed to us under the terms of such joint venture agreements. In connection with joint venture borrowings, the Company also selectively provides (a) an environmental indemnity to the lender that holds the lender harmless from and against losses arising from the discharge of hazardous materials from the property and non-compliance with applicable environmental laws; and (b) indemnification of the lender from "bad boy acts" of the unconsolidated entity such as fraud, misrepresentation, misapplication or non-payment of rents, profits, insurance, and condemnation proceeds, waste and mechanic liens, and bankruptcy.

We obtain surety bonds in the normal course of business to ensure completion of certain infrastructure improvements of our projects. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company had outstanding surety bonds totaling $44.0 million and $47.6 million, respectively. The estimated remaining costs to complete of such improvements as of December 31, 2020 and 2019 were $16.3 million and $29.1 million, respectively. The beneficiaries of the bonds are various municipalities, homeowners' associations, and other organizations. In the event that any such surety bond issued by a third party is called because the required improvements are not completed, the Company could be obligated to reimburse the issuer of the bond.

The Company accounts for contracts deemed to contain a lease under ASC 842, Leases. At the inception of a lease, or if a lease is subsequently modified, we determine whether the lease is an operating or financing lease. Our lease population is fully comprised of operating leases and includes leases for certain office space and equipment for use in our operations. For all leases with an expected term that exceeds one year, right-of-use lease assets and lease liabilities are recorded within our consolidated balance sheets. The depreciable lives of right-of-use lease assets are limited to the expected term which would include any renewal options we expect to exercise. The exercise of lease renewal options is generally at our discretion and we expect that in the normal course of business, leases that expire will be renewed or replaced by other leases. Our lease agreements do not contain any residual value guarantees or material restrictive covenants.  Variable lease payments consist of non-lease services related to the lease.  Variable lease payments are excluded from the right-of-use lease assets and lease liabilities and are expensed as incurred.  Right-of-use lease assets are included in other assets and totaled $3.0 million and $2.0 million at December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.  Lease liabilities are recorded in accrued expenses and other liabilities and totaled $3.2 million and $2.2 million at December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.    

For the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 lease costs and cash flow information for leases with terms in excess of one year was as follows:

	Year Ended December 31,
	2020		2019
Lease cost:
Lease costs included in general and administrative expenses	$	1,234	$	1,226
Lease costs included in real estate inventories		344		503
Lease costs included in selling and marketing expenses		188		202
Net lease cost	$	1,766	$	1,931
Other Information:
Lease cash flows (included in operating cash flows)(1)	$	1,889	$	2,056

(1) Amount does not include the cost of short-term leases with terms of less than one year which totaled approximately $0.2 million and $0.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively, or the benefit from a sublease agreement of one of our office spaces which totaled approximately $0.2 million and $0.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Future lease payments under our operating leases are as follows (dollars in thousands):

2021	$	1,031
2022		703
2023		631
2024		588
2025		478
Thereafter		—
Total lease payments (1)	$	3,431
Less: Interest (2)		251
Present value of lease liabilities (3)	$	3,180

(1)	Lease payments include options to extend lease terms that are reasonably certain of being exercised.
(2)	Our leases do not provide a readily determinable implicit rate. Therefore, we utilized our incremental borrowing rate for such leases to determine the present value of lease payments at the lease commencement date.  There were no legally binding minimum lease payments for leases signed but not yet commenced at December 31, 2020 and 2019.
(3)	The weighted average remaining lease term and weighted average incremental borrowing rate used in calculating our lease liabilities were 4.2 years and 3.7%, respectively, at December 31, 2020 and 1.9 years and 4.4%, respectively, at December 31, 2019.

We lease our corporate headquarters in Irvine, California. The lease on this facility consists of approximately 13,000 square feet and expires in December 2025. In addition, we lease divisional offices in Southern California, Northern California and Arizona totaling approximately 19,500 square feet (of which approximately 7,700 square feet is sublet) expiring at various times through 2025. As of December 31, 2020, the future lease payments under non-cancelable operating leases, primarily associated with our office facilities, are as follows (dollars in thousands):

2021	$	782
2022		534
2023		556
2024		578
2025		479
Thereafter		—
	$	2,929

For the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, rent expense was $1.2 million, $1.2 million and $1.1 million, respectively.