Note 14. Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments

In connection with our 2007 acquisition of certain intellectual property, we agreed to pay royalties to Procter & Gamble upon production and sale of PHA. The royalty was $0.05 per pound for the first 500 million pounds of PHA sold and decreased to $0.025 per pound for cumulative sales in excess of that amount until the underlying patents expire. On March 17, 2023, we terminated this royalty agreement. We retained all intellectual property associated with the agreement. We forfeited all prepaid royalties as part of this termination and recorded a loss on forfeiture of $0.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023.

Litigation Matters

On May 14, 2021, a class action complaint was filed by Darryl Keith Rosencrants in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, on May 18, 2021, a class action complaint was filed by Carlos Caballeros in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, on May 18, 2021, a class action complaint was filed by Dennis H. Wilkins also in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, and on May 19, 2021, a class action complaint was filed by Elizabeth and John Skistimas in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Each plaintiff or plaintiffs brought the action individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated against the Company.

The alleged class varies in each case but covers all persons and entities other than Defendants who purchased or otherwise acquired our securities between October 5, 2020 and May 4, 2021 (“Class Period”). Plaintiffs are seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants’ alleged violations of the federal securities laws and are pursuing remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (“Exchange Act”), and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder. The complaints are substantially similar and are each premised upon various allegations that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding, among other things, our business, operations and compliance policies.

Plaintiffs seek the following remedies: (i) determining that the lawsuits may be maintained as class actions under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, (ii) certifying a class representative, (iii) requiring Defendants to pay damages allegedly sustained by plaintiffs and the class members by reason of the acts alleged in the complaints, and (iv) awarding pre-judgment and post-judgment interest as well as reasonable attorneys’ fees, expert fees and other costs.

On July 29, 2021, the Georgia court transferred the Georgia cases to New York, and all four class actions have been consolidated into a single lawsuit in the Eastern District of New York.

On January 19, 2022, a Consolidated Amended Class Action Complaint (“Amended Complaint”) was filed in the Eastern District of New York, naming as defendants the Company, its directors and certain of its officers as well as certain former directors (collectively, “Defendants”). The Amended Complaint is brought on behalf of a class consisting of (i) purchasers of shares of the Company during the Class Period, (ii) all holders of the Company’s Class A common stock entitled to vote on the merger transaction between the Company and Meredian Holdings Group, Inc. consummated on December 28, 2020 and (iii) purchasers of Company securities pursuant to the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-4 that was declared effective on December 16, 2020 or the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-1 that was declared effective on February 16, 2021. The Amended Complaint asserts claims for violations of Sections 10(b), 14(a) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act and Rules 10(b)-5(a)-(c) promulgated thereunder and Sections 11, 12 and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). Plaintiffs seek the following remedies: (a) a determination that the lawsuit is a proper class action pursuant to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and certifying Plaintiffs as class representative, (b) awarding compensatory and punitive damages allegedly sustained by the class members by reason of the acts set forth in the Amended Complaint and (c) awarding pre-judgment and post-judgment interest and costs and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, experts’ fees and other costs. On September 30, 2023, the court issued an Order granting Defendant’s motion to dismiss in full, dismissing Plaintiffs’ claims with prejudice, and denying Plaintiffs’ request for leave to amend. The Plaintiffs appealed and, on September 27, 2024, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court’s Order dismissing the Amended Complaint. To date, no further appeal has been filed by the Plaintiffs.

On May 24, 2021, a shareholder derivative lawsuit was filed in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware by Richard Delman on behalf of the Company, alleging breach of fiduciary duty against the Company’s directors. On October 6, 2021, a shareholder derivative lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware by Ryan Perri on behalf of the Company, alleging breach of fiduciary duty against the Company’s directors. On February 9, 2023, a shareholder derivative lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware by Samuel Berezin on behalf of the Company, alleging breach of fiduciary trust against the Company’s directors. All three shareholder derivative lawsuits repeated certain allegations which are already in the public domain. Subsequent to the decision of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals noted above, each of the three shareholder derivative lawsuits was voluntarily dismissed by the party filing the respective complaint.

On May 5, 2021, we received a letter from the Atlanta regional office of the SEC, in connection with a non-public, fact-finding inquiry, requesting that we voluntarily produce certain specified information, to which we timely and voluntarily produced the requested information on July 14, 2021. Subsequently, the SEC had additional follow-up requests for further information, and we have timely and voluntarily responded to all such requests.

In the ordinary course of business, we may be a party to various other legal proceedings from time to time. We provide for costs relating to these matters when a loss is probable and the amount is reasonably estimable. Since we are unable to estimate the likelihood of incurring a loss, or the amount of loss, if any, related to these matters, we have not accrued any losses for these matters at September 30, 2024. Legal and administrative costs related to these matters are expensed as incurred.