Within the ordinary course of our business, we are subject to private lawsuits, government audits, administrative proceedings and other claims. These matters typically involve claims from customers, staff members and others related to operational and employment issues common to the foodservice industry. A number of these claims may exist at any given time, and some of the claims may be pled as class actions. From time to time, we are also involved in lawsuits with respect to infringements of, or challenges to, our registered trademarks and other intellectual property, both domestically and abroad. We could be affected by adverse publicity and litigation costs resulting from such allegations, regardless of whether they are valid or whether we are legally determined to be liable.
At this time, we believe that the amount of reasonably possible losses resulting from final disposition of any pending lawsuits, audits, proceedings and claims will not have a material adverse effect individually or in the aggregate on our financial position, results of operations or liquidity. It is possible, however, that our future results of operations for a particular quarter or fiscal year could be impacted by changes in circumstances relating to lawsuits, audits, proceedings or claims. Legal costs related to such claims are expensed as incurred.
We have employment agreements with certain of our executive officers that provide for payments to those officers in the event of an actual or constructive termination of their employment, including in the event of a termination without cause, an acquirer failure to assume or continue equity awards following a change in control of the Company or, otherwise, in the event of death or disability as defined in those agreements. Aggregate payments totaling approximately $2.3 million, excluding accrued potential bonuses of $2.7 million, which are subject to approval by the Compensation Committee, would have been required by those agreements had all such officers terminated their employment for reasons requiring such payments as of December 31, 2019. In addition, the employment agreement with our Chief Executive Officer specifies an annual founder’s retirement benefit of $650,000 for ten years, commencing six months after termination of his full-time employment.
15. Stockholders’ Equity
Cash dividends of $1.38, $1.24 and $1.06 were declared during fiscal 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Future decisions to pay or to increase or decrease dividends are at the discretion of the Board and will be dependent on our operating performance, financial condition, capital expenditure requirements, limitations on cash distributions pursuant to the terms and conditions of the New Facility and applicable law, and such other factors that the Board considers relevant. (See Note 12 for further discussion of our long-term debt.)
Under authorization by our Board to repurchase up to 56.0 million shares of our common stock, we have cumulatively repurchased 52.9 million shares at a total cost of $1,693.1 million through December 31, 2019. During fiscal 2019, 2018 and 2017, we repurchased 1.1 million, 2.3 million and 2.6 million shares of our common stock at a cost of $51.0 million, $109.3 million and $123.0 million, respectively. Repurchased common stock is reflected as a reduction of stockholders’ equity in treasury stock.
Our share repurchase authorization does not have an expiration date, does not require us to purchase a specific number of shares and may be modified, suspended or terminated at any time. Shares may be repurchased in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions at times and prices considered appropriate by us. We make the determination to repurchase shares based on several factors, including current and forecasted operating cash flows, capital needs associated with new restaurant development and maintenance of existing locations, dividend payments, debt levels and cost of borrowing, obligations associated with the Acquisition, our share price and current market conditions. (See Note 2 for further discussion of the Acquisition.) The timing and number of shares repurchased are also subject to legal constraints and financial covenants under the New Facility that limit share repurchases based on a defined ratio. (See Note 12 for further discussion of our long-term debt.) Our objectives regarding share repurchases are to offset the dilution to our shares outstanding that results from equity compensation grants and to supplement our earnings per share growth.
16. Stock-Based Compensation
We maintain stock-based incentive plans under which incentive stock options, non-qualified stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted shares and restricted share units may be granted to staff members, consultants and non-employee directors. Our current practice is to issue new shares, rather than treasury shares, upon stock option exercises, for restricted share grants and upon vesting of restricted share units. To date, we have only granted non-qualified stock options, restricted shares and restricted share units of common stock under these plans. No grants have been made to non-employee directors under these plans.