Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments and Contingencies

8.    Commitments and Contingencies

Legal Proceedings

From time to time, the Company is involved in disputes, litigation, and other regulatory or administrative  actions, including those with respect to intellectual property, employment, testing, billing, reimbursement  and other matters. Such actions may include allegations of negligence, products/professional liability or other legal claims, and could involve claims for substantial compensatory and/or punitive damages or claims for indeterminate amounts of damages. The Company is aggressively defending and/or prosecuting its current litigation matters, but cannot provide any assurance as to the ultimate outcome or that an adverse resolution would not have a material adverse effect on its financial condition and results of operations. There are many uncertainties associated with any litigation and these actions or other third party claims against the Company, including by governmental entities, or by the Company against third parties, may cause the Company to incur costly litigation and/or substantial settlement charges. In addition, the resolution of any intellectual property litigation may require the Company to make royalty payments, which could adversely affect gross margins in future periods. If this were to occur, the Company's business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be adversely affected.

The Company assesses legal contingencies to determine the degree of probability and range of possible loss for potential accrual in its financial statements. When evaluating legal contingencies, the Company may be unable to provide a meaningful estimate due to a number of factors, including the procedural status of the matter in question, the presence of complex or novel legal theories, and/or the ongoing discovery and development of information important to the matters. In addition, damage amounts claimed in litigation or other matters may be unsupported, exaggerated or unrelated to possible outcomes, and as such are not meaningful indicators of its potential liability. During the periods presented, the Company has not recorded any accrual for loss contingencies associated with such legal proceedings or other matters, determined that an unfavorable outcome is probable or reasonably possible, or determined that the amount or range of any possible loss is reasonably estimable.

Intellectual Property Litigation Matters.

The Company has been involved in two patent litigations against CareDx, Inc. (“CareDx”) in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware (“CareDx Patent Cases”). In the first suit, CareDx alleged, in a complaint filed jointly with the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University (“Stanford”) in March 2019 and amended in March 2020, that the Company infringed three patents. The complaint sought unspecified damages and injunctive relief. On September 28, 2021, the Court granted the Company’s motion for summary judgment, finding all three of Stanford’s patents invalid.  CareDx and Stanford have filed a notice of appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.  In the second suit, filed by the Company in January 2020, the Company alleged infringement by CareDx of two of the Company’s patents, seeking unspecified damages and injunctive relief. The case is currently pending and is scheduled for trial in July 2023.

The Company has filed suit against ArcherDX, Inc. (“ArcherDX”) in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, alleging, in complaints filed in January, April, and August of 2020, which cases were consolidated in September 2020, that certain ArcherDX DNA oncology products infringe five of the Company’s patents. In June 2020, ArcherDX filed a motion to dismiss aspects of the Company’s case, including to invalidate several of the Company’s asserted patents. That motion was denied in its entirety in October 2020. In January 2021, the Company filed a second amended complaint naming an additional Archer DX entity, ArcherDx LLC, and Invitae Corp. as defendants. The Company is seeking unspecified monetary damages and injunctive relief. Both parties filed motions for summary judgment in January 2022. A jury trial is currently set for May 16, 2022.

The Company is the subject of a lawsuit filed against it by Ravgen, Inc. (“Ravgen”) in June 2020 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, alleging infringement of two Ravgen patents. The complaint seeks monetary damages and injunctive relief. Various parties, including Natera, have filed challenges to the validity of the asserted patents with the Patent Office, which are pending.  

The Company filed suit against Progenity, Inc. (“Progenity”) in June 2020 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas and in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, in each case alleging that Progenity’s NIPT test infringes six of the Company’s patents. The complaints sought treble damages and injunctive relief. In July 2020, Progenity filed suit against the Company in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, seeking declaratory judgment of non-infringement of the Company’s asserted patents. Progenity also petitioned the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office for inter partes review of all of the Company’s asserted patents. The PTAB instituted review of three of the petitions and set trial for March 7, 2022, and denied institution of the other three petitions. On August 3, 2021, the parties entered into a settlement agreement to settle the matters described above.

In October 2020, the Company filed suit against Genosity Inc. (“Genosity”), in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, alleging that various Genosity oncology products infringe one of the Company’s patents and seeking unspecified monetary damages and injunctive relief. In March 2021, the Company filed a motion to dismiss certain of Genosity’s affirmative defenses and a counterclaim. Trial is set for October 2023.

In January 2021, the Company filed suit against Inivata, Inc. and Inivata Ltd. (collectively “Inivata”) in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. The complaint, amended by the Company in May 2021, alleges that various Inivata oncology products infringe two of the Company’s patents and seeks unspecified monetary damages and injunctive relief. In June 2021, Inivata filed a motion to dismiss the Company’s amended complaint.

The Company is the subject of lawsuits filed against it by Invitae Corp. (“Invitae”) in the United States District Court of the District of Delaware alleging, in complaints filed in May and November of 2021, infringement of three patents and seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief. Trial is set for January 2024.

Other Litigation Matters.

In August 2019, a suit was filed against the Company in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois by a patient alleging claims relating to a discordant test result and seeking monetary damages. The suit was dismissed in June 2021.

The Company is also the subject of a lawsuit filed by CareDx against the Company in April 2019 in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, alleging false advertising, trademark disparagement, unfair competition, and unfair or deceptive trade practices based on statements describing studies that concern the Company’s technology and CareDx’s technology (“CareDx’s Advertising Case”). The complaint seeks unspecified damages and injunctive relief. In May 2019, the Company filed a motion to dismiss the entirety of CareDx’s Advertising Case for failure to state a claim, following which in February 2020, CareDx filed an amended complaint withdrawing its trademark disparagement claim. Also in February 2020, the Company filed a counterclaim against CareDx in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, alleging false advertising, unfair competition and deceptive trade practices and seeking unspecified damages and injunctive relief. The parties cross-moved for partial summary judgment, which was denied in April 2021. The matter is set for trial on March 7, 2022.

The Company is involved in litigation against Guardant, Inc. (“Guardant”). On or about May 27, 2021, Guardant filed suit against the Company in the United States District Court of the Northern District of California alleging false advertising and related claims and seeking unspecified damages and injunctive relief.  On or about May 28, 2021, the Company filed suit against Guardant in the Western District of Texas, alleging false advertising and related claims. The Company has voluntarily dismissed its Texas suit against Guardant. In the California action, the Company has answered Guardant’s complaint and has asserted its claims as counterclaims, seeking unspecified damages and injunctive relief. On August 3, 2021, Guardant moved to dismiss the Company’s counterclaims, which motion was denied in all material respects.

In November 2021, a purported class action lawsuit was filed against the Company in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, by a patient alleging various causes of action relating to the Company’s patient billing and seeks, among other relief, class certification, injunctive relief, restitution and/or disgorgement, attorneys’ fees, and costs.

In February 2022, a purported class action lawsuit was filed against the Company in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, by a patient alleging various causes of action related to the marketing of Panorama and seeks, among other relief, class certification, monetary damages, attorneys’ fees, and costs. 

Director and Officer Indemnifications

As permitted under Delaware law, and as set forth in the Company’s Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and its Amended and Restated Bylaws, the Company indemnifies its directors, executive officers, other officers, employees and other agents for certain events or occurrences that may arise while in such capacity. The maximum potential amount of future payments the Company could be required to make under this indemnification is unlimited; however, the Company has insurance policies that may limit its exposure and may enable it to recover a portion of any future amounts paid. Assuming the applicability of coverage, the willingness of the insurer to assume coverage, and subject to certain retention, loss limits and other policy provisions, the Company believes any obligations under this indemnification would not be material, other than standard retention amounts for securities related claims. However, no assurances can be given that the covering insurers will not attempt to dispute the validity, applicability, or amount of coverage without expensive litigation against these insurers, in which case the Company may incur substantial liabilities as a result of these indemnification obligations.  

Third-Party Payer Reimbursement Audits

From time to time, the Company receives recoupment requests from third-party payers for alleged overpayments. The Company disagrees with the contentions of pending requests and/or has recorded an estimated reserve for the alleged overpayments.  

Contractual Commitments

The following table sets forth the material unconditional purchase obligations and contractual commitments as of December 31, 2021 with a remaining term of at least one year:

Party	Total Commitments		Expiry Date
		(in thousands)
Material suppliers	$	16,040	June 2026
Application service providers		35,279	March 2026
Earnouts for development with third party (1)		35,000	September 2023
Software development provider		4,463	December 2024
Leases (2)		29,683	March 2033
Other material suppliers		17,510	Various
Total		137,975

(1) The earnouts for asset development with the acquired Canadian entity consists of three milestones which are achieved upon the satisfaction of certain contractual conditions. Upon achievement, the earnout consideration will primarily be paid in the Company’s common stock.

(2) Represents executed leases which have not commenced. Please refer to Note 7, Leases, for additional information.