Note 24 - Commitments and Contingencies

3 Months Ended

Sep. 25, 2011

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Text Block]

24. Commitments and Contingencies

Environmental

On September 30, 2004, the Company completed its acquisition of the polyester filament manufacturing assets located in Kinston, North Carolina from INVISTA S.a.r.l. (“INVISTA”).  The land for the Kinston site was leased pursuant to a 99 year ground lease (“Ground Lease”) with E.I. DuPont de Nemours (“DuPont”). Since 1993, DuPont has been investigating and cleaning up the Kinston site under the supervision of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (“DENR”) pursuant to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Corrective Action program.  The Corrective Action program requires DuPont to identify all potential areas of environmental concern (“AOCs”), assess the extent of contamination at the identified AOCs and clean it up to comply with applicable regulatory standards.  Effective March 20, 2008, the Company entered into a Lease Termination Agreement associated with conveyance of certain assets at Kinston to DuPont.  This agreement terminated the Ground Lease and relieved the Company of any future responsibility for environmental remediation, other than participation with DuPont, if so called upon, with regard to the Company’s period of operation of the Kinston site.  However, the Company continues to own a satellite service facility acquired in the INVISTA transaction that has contamination from DuPont’s operations and is monitored by DENR.  This site has been remediated by DuPont and DuPont has received authority from DENR to discontinue remediation, other than natural attenuation.  DuPont’s duty to monitor and report to DENR will be transferred to the Company in the future, at which time DuPont must pay the Company for seven years of monitoring and reporting costs and the Company will assume responsibility for any future remediation and monitoring of the site.  At this time, the Company has no basis to determine if and when it will have any responsibility or obligation with respect to the AOCs or the extent of any potential liability for the same.

Litigation

The Company is aware of certain claims against it for the alleged use of non-compliant “Berry Amendment” nylon POY in yarns that the Company sold which may have ultimately been used to manufacture certain U.S. military garments (the “Military Claims”).  Although the Company believes it has certain potential defenses to the claims, the estimate of possible losses, before considering any potential salvage values for the garments, ranges from $200 to $2,100.  The Company has appropriately accrued for this contingency. It is reasonably possible that the Company’s estimate may differ from the actual claim amount; however, the Company believes any change would not be material to the financial statements.