Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

NOTE 14—COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Proceedings against Tenants, Operators and Managers

From time to time, Atria, Sunrise, Brookdale Senior Living, Ardent, Kindred and our other tenants, operators and managers are parties to certain legal actions, regulatory investigations and claims arising in the conduct of their business and operations. Even though we generally are not party to these proceedings, the unfavorable resolution of any such actions, investigations or claims could, individually or in the aggregate, materially adversely affect such tenants’, operators’ or managers’ liquidity, financial condition or results of operations and their ability to satisfy their respective obligations to us, which, in turn, could have a Material Adverse Effect on us.

Proceedings Indemnified and Defended by Third Parties

From time to time, we are party to certain legal actions, regulatory investigations and claims for which third parties are contractually obligated to indemnify, defend and hold us harmless. The tenants of our triple-net leased properties and, in some cases, their affiliates are required by the terms of their leases and other agreements with us to indemnify, defend and hold us harmless against certain actions, investigations and claims arising in the course of their business and related to the operations of our triple-net leased properties. In addition, third parties from whom we acquired certain of our assets and, in some cases, their affiliates are required by the terms of the related conveyance documents to indemnify, defend and hold us harmless against certain actions, investigations and claims related to the acquired assets and arising prior to our ownership or related to excluded assets and liabilities. In some cases, a portion of the purchase price consideration is held in escrow for a specified period of time as collateral for these indemnification obligations. We are presently being defended by certain tenants and other obligated third parties in these types of matters. We cannot assure you that our tenants, their affiliates or other obligated third parties will continue to defend us in these matters, that our tenants, their affiliates or other obligated third parties will have sufficient assets, income and access to financing to enable them to satisfy their defense and indemnification obligations to us or that any purchase price consideration held in escrow will be sufficient to satisfy claims for which we are entitled to indemnification. The unfavorable resolution of any such actions, investigations or claims could, individually or in the aggregate, materially

adversely affect our tenants’ or other obligated third parties’ liquidity, financial condition or results of operations and their ability to satisfy their respective obligations to us, which, in turn, could have a Material Adverse Effect on us.

Proceedings Arising in Connection with Senior Living and Office Operations; Other Litigation

From time to time, we are party to various legal actions, regulatory investigations and claims (some of which may not be insured and some of which may allege large damage amounts) arising in connection with our senior living and office operations or otherwise in the course of our business. In limited circumstances, the manager of the applicable seniors housing community, MOB or research and innovation center may be contractually obligated to indemnify, defend and hold us harmless against such actions, investigations and claims. It is the opinion of management that, except as otherwise set forth in this note, that the disposition of any such actions, investigations and claims that are currently pending will not, individually or in the aggregate, have a Material Adverse Effect on us. However, regardless of their merits, we may be forced to expend significant financial resources to defend and resolve these matters. We are unable to predict the ultimate outcome of these actions, investigations and claims, and if management’s assessment of our liability with respect thereto is incorrect, such actions, investigations and claims could have a Material Adverse Effect on us.

Certain Obligations, Liabilities and Litigation

We may be subject to various obligations, liabilities and litigation assumed in connection with or arising out of our acquisitions or otherwise arising in connection with our business, some of which may be indemnifiable by third parties. If these liabilities are greater than expected or were not known to us at the time of acquisition, if we are not entitled to indemnification, or if the responsible third party fails to indemnify us, such obligations, liabilities and litigation could have a Material Adverse Effect on us. In addition, in connection with the sale or leasing of our properties, we may incur various obligations and liabilities, including indemnification obligations to the buyer or tenant, relating to the operations of those properties, which could have a Material Adverse Effect on us.

Operating Leases

We lease real property, primarily land and corporate office space, and equipment, primarily vehicles at our seniors housing communities. At inception, we establish an operating lease asset and operating lease liability calculated as the present value of future minimum lease payments. As our leases do not provide an implicit rate, we use a discount rate that approximates our incremental borrowing rate available at lease commencement to determine the present value. Incremental borrowing rates are adjusted for the length of the individual lease term. The weighted average discount rate and remaining lease term of our leases as of December 31, 2019 are 7.25% and 41.8 years, respectively. Operating lease assets and liabilities are not recognized for leases with an initial term of 12 months or less.

Our lease expense primarily consists of ground and corporate office leases. Ground lease expense is included in interest expense and corporate office lease expense is included in general, administrative and professional fees in the Company's Consolidated Statements of Income. For the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 we recognized $32.6 million and $32.3 million of expense relating to our leases. For the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, cash paid for leases was $25.8 million and $26.7 million, respectively as reported within operating cash outflows in our Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows.

The following table summarizes future minimum lease obligations under non-cancelable ground and other operating leases as of December 31, 2019 (in thousands):



2020	$	24,395
2021⁽¹⁾	56,948
2022⁽¹⁾	28,023
2023	19,322
2024	18,398
Thereafter	644,996
Total undiscounted minimum lease payments	792,082
Less: imputed interest	(540,886		)
Operating lease liabilities	$	251,196

⁽¹⁾

Obligations include payment of ground rent upon substantial completion of in progress research and innovation developments.