15. Commitments and contingencies Legal proceedings As previously reported, in March 2008, a group of private plaintiffs (the  Claimants ) filed a class action lawsuit for an unspecified amount against Sterling Jewelers Inc. ( Sterling ), a subsidiary of Signet, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging that US store-level employment practices are discriminatory as to compensation and promotional activities with respect to gender. In June 2008, the District Court referred the matter to private arbitration where the Claimants sought to proceed on a class-wide basis. Discovery has been completed. The Claimants filed a motion for class certification and Sterling opposed the motion. A hearing on the class certification motion was held in late February 2014. The motion is now pending before the Arbitrator. Also as previously reported, on September 23, 2008, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ( EEOC ) filed a lawsuit against Sterling in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. The EEOC s lawsuit alleges that Sterling engaged in intentional and disparate impact gender discrimination with respect to pay and promotions of female retail store employees from January 1, 2003 to the present. The EEOC asserts claims for unspecified monetary relief and non-monetary relief against the Company on behalf of a class of female employees subjected to these alleged practices. Non-expert fact discovery closed in mid-May 2013. In September 2013, Sterling made a motion for partial summary judgment on procedural grounds, which was referred to a Magistrate Judge. The Magistrate Judge heard oral arguments on the summary judgment motion in December 2013. On January 2, 2014, the Magistrate Judge issued his Report, Recommendation and Order, recommending that the Court grant Sterling s motion for partial summary judgment and dismiss the EEOC s claims in their entirety. The EEOC filed its objections to the Magistrate Judge s ruling and Sterling filed its response thereto. The Dis