Commitments and Contingencies

Legal Proceedings

We are routinely involved in a number of legal and regulatory claims, assertions, actions, reviews, audits, inquiries and investigations by various regulatory entities involving compliance with laws or other regulations, the outcome of which are uncertain. These legal proceedings could result in adverse judgments, settlements, fines, injunctions, restitutions or other relief that could require significant expenditures or have other effects on our business. In accordance with applicable accounting standards and guidance, we establish accruals only when we determine both that it is probable that a loss has been incurred and the amount of the loss is reasonably estimable. We accrue the amount that represents our best estimate of the probable loss; however, if we can only determine a range of estimated losses, we accrue an amount within the range that, in our judgment, reflects the most likely outcome, and if none of the estimates within the range is more likely, we accrue the minimum amount of the range.

In the course of our regular review of pending legal and regulatory matters, we determine whether it is reasonably possible that a potential loss may have a material impact on our liquidity, results of operations or financial condition. If we determine such a loss is reasonably possible, we disclose information relating to such potential loss, including an estimate or range of loss or a statement that such an estimate cannot be made. On a quarterly basis, we review relevant information with respect to loss contingencies and update our accruals, disclosures and estimates of reasonably possible losses or range of losses based on such reviews. We are often unable to estimate the possible loss or range of loss until developments in such matters have provided sufficient information to support an assessment of the range of possible loss, such as quantification of a damage demand from plaintiffs, discovery from other parties and investigation of factual allegations, rulings by the court on motions or appeals, analysis by experts, and the progress of settlement negotiations. In addition, we generally make no disclosures for loss contingencies that are determined to be remote. For matters for which we disclose an estimated loss, the disclosed estimate reflects the reasonably possible loss or range of loss in excess of the amount accrued, if any.

Loss estimates are inherently subjective, based on currently available information, and are subject to management’s judgment and various assumptions. Due to the inherently subjective nature of these estimates and the uncertainty and unpredictability surrounding the outcome of legal and other proceedings, actual results may differ materially from any amounts that have been accrued.

As described in Note 10, on September 4, 2014 we received formal Notices of Deficiency from the IRS related to certain losses and deductions resulting from our investment in a portfolio of non-economic REMIC residual interests. We believe that an adequate provision for income taxes has been made for the potential liabilities that may result from this matter. However, if the ultimate resolution of this matter produces a result that differs materially from our current expectations, there could be a material impact on our effective tax rate, results of operations and cash flows.

On December 22, 2016, Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC and Homeward Residential, Inc. (collectively, “Ocwen”) filed a complaint against Radian Guaranty (the “Complaint”). Ocwen has also initiated legal proceedings against several other mortgage insurers. The action filed against Radian Guaranty, titled Ocwen, et al. v. Radian Guaranty, is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (the “Court”). The Complaint alleged breach of contract and bad faith claims and sought monetary damages and declaratory relief regarding certain claims handling practices on future insurance claims. On December 17, 2016, Ocwen separately filed a parallel arbitration petition against Radian Guaranty (the “Petition”) before the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) asserting substantially the same allegations as in the Complaint (the Complaint and the Petition are collectively referred to as the “Filings”). The Filings listed 9,420 mortgage insurance certificates (“Certificates”) issued under multiple insurance policies, including Pool Insurance Policies, as subject to the dispute. On March 3, 2017, Radian Guaranty filed with the Court: (i) a motion to dismiss Ocwen’s Complaint or, in the alternative, for a more definite statement and (ii) a motion to enjoin Ocwen’s parallel arbitration. On June 5, 2017, Ocwen filed an Amended Complaint and an Amended Petition (collectively, the “Amended Filings”) with the Court and the AAA, respectively, together listing 8,870 Certificates as subject to the dispute. In December 2017 and January 2018, Ocwen and Radian Guaranty filed motions for partial summary judgment in connection with a small number of bellwether certificates selected from the Certificates subject to the Court proceedings (“Bellwether Certificates”). On February 1, 2018, the Court issued an Order and Memorandum decision granting in part and denying in part both parties’ motions for partial summary judgment, and ordering the parties to proceed to trial on certain claims regarding a portion of the Bellwether Certificates. The trial regarding a portion of the Bellwether Certificates is currently scheduled to start in April 2018. Radian Guaranty believes that Ocwen’s allegations and claims in the legal proceedings described above are without merit and legally deficient, and plans to defend these claims vigorously. We are not able to estimate a reasonably possible loss, if any, or range of loss in this matter because of the preliminary stage of the proceedings.

We also are periodically subject to reviews and audits, as well as inquiries, information-gathering requests and investigations. In connection with these matters, from time to time we receive requests and subpoenas seeking information and documents related to aspects of our business. In March 2017, Green River Capital, a subsidiary of Clayton, received a letter from the staff of the SEC stating that it is conducting an investigation captioned, “In the Matter of Certain Single Family Rental Securitizations,” and that it is requesting information from market participants. The letter requested that Green River Capital provide information regarding broker price opinions that Green River Capital provided on properties included in single family rental securitization transactions. Green River Capital is cooperating with the SEC.

Our Master Policies establish the timeline within which any suit or action arising from any right of an insured under the policy generally must be commenced. In general, any suit or action arising from any right of an insured under the policy must be commenced within two years after such right first arose for primary insurance and within three years for certain other policies, including certain Pool Insurance policies. Although we believe that our Loss Mitigation Activities are justified under our policies, we continue to face challenges from certain lender and servicer customers regarding our Loss Mitigation Activities, which have resulted in some reversals of our decisions regarding Rescissions, Claim Denials or Claim Curtailments. We are currently in discussions with these customers regarding Loss Mitigation Activities and our claim payment practices, which if not resolved, could result in arbitration or judicial proceedings and we may need to reassume the risk on, and increase loss reserves for, those policies or pay additional claims. See Note 11 for further information.

Further, there are loans in our total defaulted portfolio (in particular, our older defaulted portfolio) for which actions or proceedings (such as foreclosure that provide the insured with title to the property) may not have been commenced within the outermost deadline in our Prior Master Policy. We are evaluating these loans regarding this potential violation and our corresponding rights under the Prior Master Policy. While we can provide no assurance regarding the ultimate resolution of these issues, it is possible that arbitration or legal proceedings could result.

Other

Securities regulations became effective in 2005 that impose enhanced disclosure requirements on issuers of ABS (including mortgage-backed securities). To allow our customers to comply with these regulations at that time, we typically were required, depending on the amount of credit enhancement we were providing, to provide: (i) audited financial statements for the insurance subsidiary participating in the transaction or (ii) a full and unconditional holding company-level guarantee for our insurance subsidiaries’ obligations in such transactions. Radian Group has guaranteed two structured transactions for Radian Guaranty involving approximately $97.8 million of remaining credit exposure as of December 31, 2017.

We provide contract underwriting as an outsourced service to our customers. Under our current contract underwriting program the remedy we offer is limited indemnification to our contract underwriting customers only with respect to those loans that we simultaneously underwrite for both secondary market compliance and for potential mortgage insurance eligibility. In 2017, payments for losses related to contract underwriting remedies were de minimis. In 2017, our provision for contract underwriting expenses was de minimis and our reserve for contract underwriting obligations at December 31, 2017 was $0.5 million. We monitor this risk and negotiate our underwriting fee structure and recourse agreements on a client-by-client basis. We also routinely audit the performance of our contract underwriters.

We lease office space for use in our operations. The lease agreements, which expire periodically through August 2032, contain provisions for scheduled periodic rent increases. Net rental expense in connection with these leases totaled $5.7 million in 2017, $5.0 million in 2016 and $5.0 million in 2015, excluding the net rental expense related to discontinued operations. The commitment for non-cancelable operating leases in future years is as follows:



(In thousands)
2018	$	6,482
2019	9,002
2020	8,929
2021	8,275
2022	8,162
Thereafter	58,396
Total	$	99,246

At December 31, 2017, there were no future minimum receipts expected from sublease rental payments.