COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES |
12 Months Ended | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Dec. 31, 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES |
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
We are involved in various routine legal and regulatory proceedings, including, without limitation, claims and litigation alleging construction defects. In general, the proceedings are incidental to our business, and most exposure is subject to and should be covered by warranty and indemnity obligations of our consultants and subcontractors. Additionally, some such claims are also covered by insurance. With respect to the majority of pending litigation matters, our ultimate legal and financial responsibility, if any, cannot be estimated with certainty and, in most cases, any potential losses related to these matters are not considered probable. Historically, most disputes regarding warranty claims are resolved prior to litigation. We believe there are not any pending legal or warranty matters that could have a material adverse impact upon our consolidated financial condition, results of operations or cash flows that have not been sufficiently reserved.
Joint Venture Litigation
From 2008 through January 2016, we were involved in litigation initiated by the lender group for a large Nevada-based land acquisition and development joint venture in which we held a 3.53% interest. We were the only builder joint venture partner to have fully performed its obligations with respect to takedowns of lots from the joint venture, having completed our first takedown in April 2007 and having tendered full performance of our second and final takedown in April 2008. The joint venture and the lender group rejected our tender of performance for our second and final takedown, and we contended, among other things, that the rejection by the joint venture and the lender group of our tender of full performance was wrongful and constituted a breach of contract and should release us of liability with respect to the takedown and extinguish or greatly reduce our exposure under all guarantees. On December 9, 2010, three of the lenders filed a petition seeking to place the venture into an involuntary bankruptcy (JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. v. South Edge, LLC (Case No. 10-32968-bam)). On June 6, 2011, we received a demand letter from the lenders requesting full payment of $13.2 million the lenders claimed to be owed under the springing repayment guarantee, including past-due interest and penalties. The lenders claimed that the involuntary bankruptcy filed by three of the co-lenders triggered the springing repayment guarantee. We contested the Lenders’ claim on the basis that the lenders breached their contract with us by refusing to accept the April 2008 tender of our performance, by refusing to release their lien in connection with our second and final takedown in this project, and the repayment guarantee was not properly triggered by the lenders’ filing of the involuntary bankruptcy. On August 25, 2011, the US District Court of Nevada entered judgments in favor of JP Morgan in a combined amount of $16.6 million, which included prejudgment interest and attorneys' fees. We appealed that ruling and on October 26, 2015, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an unpublished Memorandum Opinion affirming the trial court's ruling in favor of JP Morgan. We incurred an incremental $4.1 million in charges in the third quarter of 2015 for litigation reserves related to this matter to fully reserve the entire judgment and we subsequently paid the entire judgment amount in 2016, thus concluding the litigation with the lender group.
We believe that four of our co-venturers in the South Edge entity (KB Home, Toll Brothers, Pardee Homes and Beazer Homes) are liable to Meritage for certain amounts that Meritage has paid or may hereafter pay pursuant to or related to the above-mentioned litigation with the lender group and we have filed an arbitration claim against those builders to recover such amounts from them based on breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, unjust enrichment, indemnity, and other claims.
Lease Agreements
We lease office facilities, model homes and equipment under various operating lease agreements. Approximate future minimum lease payments for non-cancellable operating leases as of December 31, 2016, are as follows (in thousands):
Rent expense was $7.8 million, $6.6 million and $6.5 million in 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively, and is included within general and administrative expense or in commissions and other sales costs on our consolidated statements of operations. Sublease income was $0.6 million, $0.5 million and $0.6 million in 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. Sublease income is included within other income/(expense), net on our consolidated statements of operations.
See Note 1 for information related to our warranty obligations.
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