Personal Injury Actions and Other: Product and general liability claims arise against the Company from time to time in the ordinary course of business. These claims are generally covered by third-party insurance, which for some insurance policies is subject to a retention for which the Company is responsible. Management, however, believes that any losses will not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s consolidated financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Market Risks: The Company is contingently liable under bid, performance and specialty bonds and has open standby letters of credit issued by the Company’s banks in favor of third parties as follows:


	April 30, 2022		October 31, 2021
Performance, bid and specialty bonds	$	538.1	$	480.0
Open standby letters of credit		12.9		23.6
Total	$	551.0	$	503.6

Chassis Contingent Liabilities: The Company obtains certain vehicle chassis from automobile manufacturers under converter pool agreements. These agreements generally provide that the manufacturer will supply chassis at the Company’s various production facilities under the terms and conditions set forth in the agreement. The manufacturer does not transfer the certificate of origin to the Company upon delivery. Accordingly, the chassis are not owned by the Company when delivered, therefore, are excluded from the Company’s inventory. Upon being put into production, the Company owns the inventory and becomes obligated to pay the manufacturer for the chassis. Chassis are typically placed into production within 90 to 120 days of delivery to the Company. If the chassis are not placed into production within this timeframe, the Company generally purchases the chassis and records inventory, or the Company is obligated to begin paying an interest charge on this inventory until purchased. Such agreements are customary in the industries in which the Company operates and the Company’s exposure to loss under such agreements is limited by the value of the vehicle chassis that would be resold to mitigate any losses. The Company’s contingent liability under such agreements was $6.8 million and $13.9 million as of April 30, 2022 and October 31, 2021, respectively.

Repurchase Commitments: The Company has repurchase agreements with certain lending institutions. The repurchase commitments are on an individual unit basis with a term from the date it is financed by the lending institution through payment date by the dealer or other customer, generally not exceeding two years. The Company also repurchases inventory from dealers from time to time due to state law or regulatory requirements that require manufacturers to repurchase inventory if a dealership exits the business. The Company’s maximum contingent liability under such agreements was $202.8 million and $185.8 million as of April 30, 2022, and October 31, 2021, respectively, which represents the gross value of all vehicles under repurchase agreements. Such agreements are customary in the industries in which the Company operates and the Company’s exposure to loss under such agreements is limited by the resale value of the units which is required to be repurchased. Losses incurred under such arrangements have not been significant and the Company expects this pattern to continue. The reserve for losses included in other liabilities on contracts outstanding as of April 30, 2022 and October 31, 2021 is immaterial.

Guarantee Arrangements: The Company is party to multiple agreements whereby it guarantees indebtedness of others, including losses under loss pool agreements. The Company estimated that its maximum loss exposure under these contracts was $11.7 million and $14.8 million at April 30, 2022 and October 31, 2021, respectively. Under the terms of these and various related agreements and upon the occurrence of certain events, the Company generally has the ability to, among other things, take possession of the underlying collateral. While the Company does not expect to experience losses under these agreements that are materially in excess of the amounts reserved, it cannot provide any assurance that the financial condition of the third parties will not deteriorate resulting in the third party’s inability to meet their obligations. Additionally, the Company cannot guarantee that the collateral underlying the agreements will be available or sufficient to avoid losses materially in excess of the amount reserved.

Other Matters: The Company is, from time to time, party to various legal proceedings arising out of ordinary course of business. The amount of alleged liability, if any, from these proceedings cannot be determined with certainty; however, the Company believes that its ultimate liability, if any, arising from pending legal proceedings, as well as from asserted legal claims and known potential legal claims, which are probable of assertion, taking into account established accruals for estimated liabilities, should not be material to the business, financial condition or results of operations.

A consolidated federal putative securities class action and a consolidated state putative securities class action that had been pending against the Company and certain of its officers and directors have each been settled. These actions collectively purported to assert claims on behalf of putative classes of purchasers of the Company’s common stock in or traceable to its January 2017 IPO, purchasers in its secondary offering of common stock in October 2017, and purchasers from October 10, 2017 through June 7, 2018. The state action also named certain of the underwriters for the Company’s IPO or secondary offering as defendants. The federal and state courts each consolidated multiple separate actions pending before them, the first of which was filed on June 8, 2018. The actions alleged certain violations of the Securities Act of 1933 and, for the federal action, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Collectively, the actions sought certification of the putative classes asserted and compensatory damages and attorneys’ fees and costs. The consolidated state action was stayed in favor of the consolidated federal action. On May 19, 2021, the parties to the consolidated federal and state putative securities class actions executed a stipulation of settlement for a class settlement with the court and moved for preliminary approval of the settlement. The settlement payment is being fully covered by the Company’s insurers. The settlement payment and the related insurance proceeds were recorded in other current liabilities and other current assets, respectively, in the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets as of October 31, 2021. On August 24, 2021, the court preliminarily approved the settlement. Notice was then given to the classes certified for settlement, and the court entered a final judgment approving the settlement on December 9, 2021. During the first quarter of fiscal year 2022, the Company’s insurers made the final settlement payment. As of April 30, 2022, there are no further amounts recorded in the Condensed Unaudited Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Two purported derivative actions, which have since been consolidated, were also filed in 2019 against the Company’s directors (with the Company as a nominal defendant), premised on allegations similar to those asserted in the consolidated federal securities litigation. The parties to the consolidated derivative actions reached a settlement in principle on all issues other than plaintiffs’ counsel’s attorneys’ fees on or about February 17, 2021, and an agreement with respect to plaintiffs’ counsel’s attorneys’ fees on or about November 3, 2021. The plaintiffs filed a stipulation of settlement for the derivative actions with the court and moved for preliminary approval of the settlement on January 14, 2022. The motion for preliminary approval of the derivative settlement remains pending.