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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
Form 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)
of The Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported) November 27, 2013
TASER International, Inc.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
| Delaware | 001-16391 | 86-0741227 | ||
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation) | (Commission File Number) | (IRS Employer Identification No.) |
17800 N. 85th St.
Scottsdale, Arizona 85255
(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)
(480) 991-0797
(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)
N/A
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)
Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:
| ¨ | Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425) |
| ¨ | Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12) |
| ¨ | Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b)) |
| ¨ | Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c)) |
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As a general rule, it is the Company’s policy not to settle suspect injury or death cases. Exceptions are sometimes made where the settlement is strategically beneficial to the Company.
In 2009, the Company implemented new risk management strategies, including revisions to product warnings and training to better protect both the Company and its customers from litigation based on ‘failure to warn’ theories – which comprise the vast majority of the cases against the Company. These risk management strategies have been highly effective in reducing the rate and exposure from litigation post 2009. From the third quarter of 2011 to the third quarter of 2013, product liability cases have been reduced from 55 active to 22 active cases, with zero new lawsuits in third quarter 2013. As a result of the strategies implemented in 2009, management expects to see significant legal expense savings starting the second half of 2014.
Management believes that pre-2009 cases have a different risk profile than cases which have occurred since the risk management procedures were introduced in 2009. Therefore, the Company necessarily treats certain pre-2009 cases as exceptions to the Company’s general no settlement policy in order to reduce caseload, legal costs and exposure. In November 2013, the Company agreed to settle two pre-2009 product liability lawsuits, where the Company had litigation exposure in excess of insurance coverage and the risk of potential high jury verdicts, for a combined total of $2.3 million. The expense related to these settlements will be recognized in the fourth quarter of 2013, in addition to any other litigation-related expense incurred. The Company intends to continue its successful practice of aggressively defending and generally not settling litigation except in very limited and unusual circumstances as described above.
Certain statements contained in this report may be deemed to be forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and the Company intends that such forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor created thereby. Such forward-looking statements may relate to, among other things: our litigation strategy and the anticipated benefits relating thereto and the outcome of pending litigation against us. We caution that these statements are qualified by important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected by the forward-looking statements herein. Such factors include, but are not limited to: market acceptance of our products; our dependence on sales of our TASER X26, X26P and X2 CEWs; the acceptance of our EVIDENCE.com software model; our ability to design, introduce and sell new products; delays in development schedules; rapid technological change and competition; product defects; breach of our security measures resulting in unauthorized access to customer data; outages and disruptions relating to our EVIDENCE.com service; budgetary and political constraints of prospects and customers; the length of our sales cycle and our ability to realize benefits from our marketing and selling efforts; litigation risks resulting from alleged product-related injuries and media publicity concerning allegations of deaths occurring after use of the TASER device and the negative impact this publicity could have on sales; the outcome of pending or future litigation; our ability to protect our intellectual property; intellectual property infringement claims and relating litigation costs; competition in foreign countries relating to foreign patents; our successful identification of existing intellectual property rights that might infringe on our developments; risks of governmental regulations, including regulations of our products by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, regulation of our products as a “crime control” product by the Federal government, state and local government regulation and foreign regulation; the adverse effects that could result from our products being classified as firearms by the United States Bureau of Alcohol and Firearms; our compliance with regulations governing the environment, including but not limited to, regulations within the European Union; new regulations relating to conflict minerals; our dependence on third party suppliers for key components of our products; component shortages, including our dependence on foreign suppliers for key components; rising costs of raw materials and transportation relating to petroleum prices; our ability to manage our growth; our ability to increase manufacturing production to meet demand; establishment and expansion of our direct and indirect distribution channels; our ability to pursue sales directly with customers; risks relating to acquisitions and joint ventures; catastrophic events; fluctuations in quarterly operating results; foreign currency fluctuations; counterparty risks relating to cash balances held in excess of FDIC insurance limits; employee retention risks and other factors identified in documents filed by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those set forth in our Form 10-K.
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Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
| Dated: November 27, 2013 | TASER International, Inc. | |||||
| By: | /s/ DANIEL BEHRENDT | |||||
| Daniel Behrendt | ||||||
| Chief Financial Officer | ||||||
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