Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

6 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2023

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

Various lawsuits, claims, and proceedings have been or may be instituted or asserted against us relating to the conduct of our business, including those pertaining to product liability, environmental, safety and health, intellectual property, employment, and contract matters. Although the outcome of litigation cannot be predicted with certainty and some lawsuits, claims, or proceedings may be disposed of unfavorably to us, we believe the disposition of matters that are pending or have been asserted will not have a material effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations. The following outlines additional background for obligations associated with asbestos, divested businesses, and intellectual property.

We (including our subsidiaries) have been named as a defendant in lawsuits alleging personal injury as a result of exposure to asbestos that was used in certain components of our products many years ago, including products from divested businesses for which we have agreed to defend and indemnify claims. Currently there are lawsuits that name us as defendants, together with hundreds of other companies. But in all cases, for those claimants who do show that they worked with our products or products of divested businesses for which we are responsible, we nevertheless believe we have meritorious defenses, in substantial part due to the integrity of the products, the encapsulated nature of any asbestos-containing components, and the lack of any impairing medical condition caused by our products. We defend those cases vigorously. Historically, we have been dismissed from the vast majority of these claims with no payment to claimants.

Additionally, we have maintained insurance coverage that includes indemnity and defense costs, over and above self-insured retentions, for many of these claims. We believe these arrangements will provide substantial coverage for future defense and indemnity costs for these asbestos claims for many years into the future. The uncertainties of asbestos claim litigation make it difficult to predict accurately the ultimate outcome of asbestos claims. That uncertainty is increased by the possibility of adverse rulings or new legislation affecting asbestos claim litigation or the settlement process. Subject to these uncertainties and based on our experience defending asbestos claims, we do not believe these lawsuits will have a material effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

We have, from time to time, divested certain of our businesses. In connection with these divestitures, certain lawsuits, claims, and proceedings may be instituted or asserted against us related to the period that we owned the businesses, either because we agreed to retain certain liabilities related to these periods or because such liabilities fall upon us by operation of law. In some instances, the divested business has assumed the liabilities; however, it is possible that we might be responsible to satisfy those liabilities if the divested business is unable to do so. We do not believe these liabilities will have a material effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

In many countries we provide a limited intellectual property indemnity as part of our terms and conditions of sale and at times in other contracts with third parties. As of March 31, 2023, we were not aware of any material indemnification claims that were probable or reasonably possible of an unfavorable outcome. Historically, claims that have been made under the indemnification agreements have not had a material impact on our business, financial condition, or results of operations; however, to the extent that valid indemnification claims arise in the future, future payments by us could be significant and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations in a particular period.