Note 16. Commitments and Contingencies

Operating Leases

The Company has obligations under various noncancelable long-term operating leases for equipment. In addition, the Company has various obligations under other equipment leases of less than one year.

Total rent expense was approximately $407,000, $558,000 and $760,000 for the years ended September 30, 2011, 2010 and 2009.

The future minimum rental payments under non-cancelable operating leases are as follows:

Letters of Credit

The Company has retained certain self-insurance risks with respect to losses for workers' compensation and has standby letters of credit in the amounts of $200 thousand for each of the years ended September 30, 2011 and 2010, which may potentially result in a liability to the Company if certain obligations of the Company are not met.

Shareholder Derivative Actions

On October 29, 2008, Alico was served with a shareholder derivative action complaint filed by Baxter Troutman against JD Alexander and John R. Alexander which names Alico as a nominal defendant. Mr. Troutman is the cousin and nephew of the two defendants, respectively, and is a shareholder in Atlanticblue, a 51% shareholder of Alico. From February 26, 2004 until January 18, 2008 Mr. Troutman was a director of Alico. The complaint alleges that JD Alexander and John R. Alexander committed breaches of fiduciary duty in connection with a proposed merger of Atlanticblue into Alico which was proposed in 2004 and withdrawn by Atlanticblue in 2005. The suit also alleges, among other things, that the merger proposal was wrongly requested by defendants JD Alexander and John R. Alexander and improperly included a proposed special dividend; that the Alexanders sought to circumvent the Board's nominating process to ensure that they constituted a substantial part of Alico's senior management team and that these actions were contrary to the position of Alico's independent directors at the time causing a waste of Alico's funds and the resignations of the independent directors in 2005. As a result, the complaint is seeking damages to be paid to Alico by the Alexanders in excess of $1.0 million. The complaint concedes that Mr. Troutman has not previously made demand upon Alico to take action for the alleged wrongdoing as required by Florida law alleging that he believed such a demand would be futile. A copy of the Complaint may be obtained from the Clerk of the Circuit Court in Polk County, Florida.

On June 3, 2009, a Special Committee of Independent Directors from Alico's Board of Directors, the ("Committee") was created to investigate the shareholder derivative action filed by Mr. Troutman. The Committee completed its investigation with the assistance of independent legal counsel and determined that it would not be in the Company's best interest to pursue such litigation. Alico filed a motion to dismiss the litigation based upon the findings of the Special Committee; a hearing on this motion was held on December 7, 2010. The Court issued an order denying the motion to dismiss the shareholder derivative suit on May 24, 2011. A copy of the report, the order of denial and other pleadings in the case are available from the Clerk of Circuit Court in Polk County, Florida by reference to the matter of Baxter G. Troutman, Plaintiff vs. John R. Alexander and John D. Alexander, Defendants and Alico, Inc., Nominal Defendant, Case No. 08-CA-10178 Circuit Court, 10th Judicial Circuit, Polk County, Florida. See Note 18. Subsequent Events.

The Company is also involved from time to time in routine legal matters incidental to its business. When appropriate, the Company establishes estimated accruals for litigation matters which meet the requirements of ASC 450—Contingencies. Based upon available information, the Company believes that the resolution of such matters will not have a material adverse effect on its financial position or results of operations.