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Item 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

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Item 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

In May 2003, a breach of contract action was filed against us in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division, alleging that a one page document entitled “Final Proposal” constituted a ground lease of a parcel of property located adjacent to our Santana Row property and gave the plaintiff the option to require that we acquire the property at a price determined in accordance with a formula included in the “Final Proposal.” The “Final Proposal” explicitly stated that it was subject to approval of the terms and conditions of a formal agreement. A trial as to liability only was held in June 2006 and a jury rendered a verdict against us.

A trial on the issue of damages was held in April 2008 and the court issued a tentative ruling in April 2009 awarding damages to the plaintiff of approximately $14.4 million plus interest. Accordingly, considering all the information available to us when we filed our March 31, 2009 Form 10-Q, our best estimate of damages, interest, and other costs was $21.4 million resulting in an increase in our accrual for this matter of $20.6 million. In June 2009, the court issued a final judgment awarding damages of $15.9 million (including interest) plus costs of suit and in July 2009, we and the plaintiff both filed a notice of appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In December 2009, the plaintiff filed an “appellee’s principal and response brief” providing additional information regarding the issues the plaintiff is appealing. Given the additional information regarding the appeal, we lowered our accrual to $16.4 million in the fourth quarter 2009, which reflected our best estimate of the litigation liability. Oral arguments on the appeal were heard in December 2010. A final ruling on the appeal was issued in February 2011 which rejected both appeals and consequently, affirmed the final judgment against us. Therefore, in December 2010, we adjusted our accrual to $16.2 million which reflects the amount we expect to pay in first quarter 2011.

The net change in our accrual in 2010 and 2009 is included in “litigation provision” in our consolidated statements of operations. The litigation accrual of $16.2 million and $16.4 million at December 31, 2010 and 2009, respectively, is included in the “accounts payable and accrued expenses” line item in our consolidated balance sheets. During 2010 and 2009, we incurred additional legal and other costs related to this lawsuit and appeal process which are also included in the “litigation provision” line item in the consolidated statements of operations.

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