When a company is sued, it incurrs a contingent liability that must be carried on the balance sheet.
It becomes a paragraph down in the footnotes telling the stock holders that: We made big bucks this year BUT If we lose the suit then we must pay out big bucks...And the legal expenses involved.
The line item for legal expenses on a balance sheet also has similar foot notes about the nature of the cases they are involved in.
It often reads like: We plan to persue a vigorouse defense against this baseless claim.
Has anyone else been digging into JPM balance sheet foot notes??