Expedia 2009 Annual Report Download - page 41

County, Arkansas, and others similarly situated v. Hotels.com LP, et. al. CV-2009-946-5 (In the Circuit Court of
Jefferson, Arkansas). The complaint alleges that defendants have failed to collect and/or pay taxes under hotel
tax occupancy ordinances. Defendants have filed a motion to dismiss.
Leon County, et. al. v. Expedia, Inc., et. al. On November 3, 2009, Leon County, Florida filed an action
against a number of online travel companies, including Expedia, Inc., hotels.com GP, LLC, hotels.com, L.P.,
TravelNow.com and Hotwire, Inc. Leon County, et. al. v. Expedia, Inc., et. al. Case No: 2009CA4319 (Circuit
Court of the Second Judicial Circuit, Leon County, Florida). The complaint alleges that defendants have failed to
collect and/or pay taxes under the county’s tourist development tax ordinances.
Leon County v. Expedia, Inc. et al. On December 14, 2009, Leon County filed an action against a number
of online travel companies and the State of Florida Department of Revenue for recovery of state taxes for hotel
occupancy. Leon County v. Expedia, Inc., et al., Case No. 2009CA4882 (Circuit Court of the Second Judicial
Circuit, Leon County, Florida). Leon County has sued the online travel companies and the Florida State
Department of Revenue for failure to collect state hotel occupancy taxes. This case was originally filed in federal
court on July 27, 2006 and voluntarily dismissed on February 23, 2007. On January 19, 2010, defendants moved
to dismiss.
City of Birmingham v. Orbitz, et. al. The City of Birmingham, Alabama and eight other cities in Alabama,
along with the Birmingham-Jefferson Civil Center Authority, have brought suit against a number of online travel
companies. City of Birmingham, et al. v. Orbitz, et al., Case No. CV200903607 (Circuit Court of Jefferson
County, Alabama). The complaint alleges that defendants have failed to collect and/or pay taxes under local
lodging tax codes.
Florida Attorney General Litigation. On November 3, 2009, the Florida Attorney General announced a
suit against Expedia, Inc. and Orbitz, Inc. State of Florida, Office of the Attorney General, Department of Legal
Affairs v. Expedia, Inc., et al., Case No. 2009 CA (Circuit Court for the Second Judicial Circuit, Leon County,
Florida). The complaint includes one cause of action for hotel occupancy taxes under the Florida Deceptive and
Unfair Trade Practices Act. Expedia, Inc. has not been served.
At various times, the Company has also received notices of audit, or tax assessments from municipalities and
other taxing jurisdictions concerning our possible obligations with respect to state and local hotel occupancy or
related taxes. The states of South Carolina, Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, New Mexico, New
York, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Kansas and Colorado; the counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, Duvall, Palm Beach
and Brevard, Florida; the cities of Alpharetta, Atlanta, Augusta, Cartersville, Cedartown, College Park, Columbus,
Dalton, East Point, Hartwell, Macon, Richmond, Rockmart, Rome, Tybee Island and Warner Robins, Georgia; the
counties of Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Clayton, Hart, Chatham and Gwinnett, Georgia; the cities of Los Angeles, San
Diego, San Francisco, Anaheim, West Hollywood, South Lake Tahoe, Palm Springs, Monterey, Sacramento, Long
Beach, Napa, Newport Beach, Oakland, Irvine, Fresno, La Quinta, Dana Point, Laguna Beach, Riverside, Eureka,
La Palma, Twenty-nine Palms, Laguna Hills, Garden Grove, Corte Madera, Santa Rosa, Manhattan Beach,
Huntington Beach, Ojai, Orange, Sacramento, Sunnyvale, Truckee, Walnut Creek, Bakersfield, Carlsbad, Carson,
Cypress, San Bruno, Lompoc, Mammoth Lake, Palm Springs, San Jose, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica and Santa
Rosa, California; the county of Monterey, California; the cities of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tucson, Peoria, Apache
Junction, Avondale, Chandler, Glendale, Flagstaff, Mesa, Nogales, Prescott and Tempe, Arizona; undisclosed cities
in Alabama; Jefferson County, Arkansas; the city of North Little Rock, Arkansas; the cities of Chicago and
Rosemont, Illinois; the cities of New Orleans and Lafayette Parish, Louisiana; the city of Baltimore, Maryland, the
county of Montgomery, Maryland; New York City; Suffolk County, New York; the counties of Mecklenburg,
Brunswick and Stanley, North Carolina; the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Lawrence County, Pennsylvania;
the city of Madison, Wisconsin; the cities of Denver and Colorado Springs Colorado, the counties of Salt Lake,
Weber and Summit, Utah; Osceola, Florida and St. Louis County, Missouri, among others, have begun or attempted
to pursue formal or informal audits or administrative procedures, or stated that they may assert claims against us
relating to allegedly unpaid state or local hotel occupancy or related taxes.
The Company believes that the claims in all of the above lawsuits relating to hotel occupancy taxes lack
merit and will continue to defend vigorously against them.
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