COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES Litigation The Company is involved in claims, legal proceedings, alternative dispute resolution and governmental inquiries related to alleged contract disputes, business practices, intellectual property and other commercial, employment, regulatory and tax matters. Examples of such matters include but are not limited to allegations: " that the Company is vicariously liable for the acts of franchisees under theories of actual or apparent agency; " by former franchisees that franchise agreements were breached including improper terminations; " that residential real estate sales associates engaged by NRT under certain state or federal laws are potentially employees instead of independent contractors, and they or regulators therefore may bring claims against NRT for breach of contract, wage and hour classification claims, wrongful discharge and unemployment and workers' compensation and obtain benefits, back wages, overtime, indemnification, penalties related to classification practices and expense reimbursement available to employees; " concerning claims for alleged RESPA or state real estate law violations including but not limited to claims challenging the validity of sales associates indemnification, and administrative fees; " concerning claims generally against the company owned brokerage operations for negligence, misrepresentation or breach of fiduciary duty in connection with the performance of real estate brokerage or other professional services; and " concerning claims generally against the title company contending that, as the escrow company, the company knew or should have known that a transaction was fraudulent or concerning other title defects or settlement errors. Real Estate Business Litigation Bararsani v. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Company. On November 15, 2012, plaintiff Ali Bararsani filed a putative class action complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court, California, against Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Company ("CBRBC") alleging that CBRBC had miscla