Hertz 2009 Annual Report Download - page 64

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
We operate car rental locations at or near airports and in central business districts and suburban areas of
major cities in the United States, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Canada, France,
Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, the
Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Australia, New Zealand, China and Brazil, as well as retail used car
sales locations in the United States and France. We operate equipment rental locations in the United
States, Canada, France, Spain and China. We also operate headquarters, sales offices and service
facilities in the foregoing countries in support of our car rental and equipment rental operations, as well
as small car rental sales offices and service facilities in a select number of other countries in Europe and
Asia.
Of such locations, approximately 7% are owned by us. The remaining locations are leased or operated
under concessions from governmental authorities and private entities. Those leases and concession
agreements typically require the payment of minimum rents or minimum concession fees and often also
require us to pay or reimburse operating expenses; to pay additional rent, or concession fees above
guaranteed minimums, based on a percentage of revenues or sales arising at the relevant premises; or
to do both. See Note 8 to the Notes to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual
Report under the caption ‘‘Item 8—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.’’
We own three major facilities in the vicinity of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma at which reservations for our car
rental operations are processed, global information technology systems are serviced and major
domestic and international accounting functions are performed. We also have a long-term lease for a
reservation and financial center near Dublin, Ireland, at which we have centralized our European car
rental reservation and customer relations and accounting functions. We are in the process of
constructing a new European regional office in Geneva, Switzerland, which we expect to occupy in May
2010. We are also in the process of moving our France headquarters in Paris and expect to complete the
process in June 2010. We maintain our executive offices in an owned facility in Park Ridge, New Jersey
and lease a European headquarters office in Uxbridge, England.
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
From time to time we are a party to various legal proceedings. Other than with respect to the aggregate
claims for public liability and property damage pending against us, management does not believe that
any of the matters resolved, or pending against us, during 2009 are material to us and our subsidiaries
taken as a whole. While we have accrued a liability with respect to claims for public liability and property
damage of $277.8 million at December 31, 2009, management does not believe any of the other pending
matters described below are material. We have summarized below, for purposes of providing
background, various legal proceedings to which we were and/or are a party during 2009 or the period
after December 31, 2009 but before the filing of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. In addition to the
following, various other legal actions, claims and governmental inquiries and proceedings are pending
or may be instituted or asserted in the future against us and our subsidiaries.
1. Hertz Equipment Rental Corporation, or ‘‘HERC,’’ Loss Damage Waiver
On August 15, 2006, Davis Landscape, Ltd., individually and on behalf of all others similarly
situated, filed a complaint against Hertz Equipment Rental Corporation, or ‘‘HERC’’, in the
United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. In November 2006, the complaint was
amended to add another plaintiff, Miguel V. Pro, and more claims. The Davis Landscape matter
purports to be a nationwide class action on behalf of all persons and business entities who
rented equipment from HERC and who paid a Loss Damage Waiver, or ‘‘LDW’’, or an
Environmental Recovery Fee, or ‘‘ERF’’. The plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment and
injunction prohibiting HERC from engaging in acts with respect to the LDW and ERF charges
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