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Commitments and Contingencies
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3 Months Ended |
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Mar. 31, 2013
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| Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] | |
| Commitments and Contingencies [Text Block] |
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
Letters of Credit
As of March 31, 2013, the Company had outstanding letters of credit of $2.2 million as required by its existing insurance policies and facility leases. These letters of credit are supported by investments in held-to-maturity securities. See Note 3, Investments in Marketable Securities, for additional detail regarding investments in marketable securities.
Litigation
Due to the nature of the businesses in which the Company is engaged, such as product detailing and in the past, the distribution of products, it is subject to certain risks. Such risks include, among others, risk of liability for personal injury or death to persons using products the Company promotes or distributes. There can be no assurance that substantial claims or liabilities will not arise in the future due to the nature of the Company’s business activities and recent increases in litigation related to healthcare products, including pharmaceuticals. The Company seeks to reduce its potential liability under its service agreements through measures such as contractual indemnification provisions with customers (the scope of which may vary from customer to customer, and the performance of which is not secured) and insurance. The Company could, however, also be held liable for errors and omissions of its employees in connection with the services it performs that are outside the scope of any indemnity or insurance policy. The Company could be materially adversely affected if it were required to pay damages or incur defense costs in connection with a claim that is outside the scope of an indemnification agreement; if the indemnity, although applicable, is not performed in accordance with its terms; or if the Company’s liability exceeds the amount of applicable insurance or indemnity.
The Company routinely assesses all of its litigation and threatened litigation as to the probability of ultimately incurring a liability, and records its best estimate of the ultimate loss in situations where the Company assesses the likelihood of loss as probable. The Company accrues for a liability when it is both probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. Significant judgment is required in both the determination of probability and the determination as to whether a loss is reasonably estimable. In addition, in the event the Company determines that a loss is not probable, but is reasonably possible, and it becomes possible to develop what the Company believes to be a reasonable range of possible loss, then the Company will include disclosures related to such matter as appropriate and in compliance with ASC 450. To the extent there is a reasonable possibility that the losses could exceed the amounts already accrued, the Company will, as applicable, adjust the accrual in the period the determination is made, disclose an estimate of the additional loss or range of loss, indicate that the estimate is immaterial with respect to its financial statements as a whole or, if the amount of such adjustment cannot be reasonably estimated, disclose that an estimate cannot be made.
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