Contingencies

6 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Environmental

Federal, state and local requirements relating to the discharge of substances into the environment, the disposal of hazardous wastes and other activities affecting the environment have, and will continue to have, an impact on the operations of the company. The process of estimating environmental liabilities is complex and dependent upon evolving physical and scientific data at the sites, uncertainties as to remedies and technologies to be used and the outcome of discussions with regulatory agencies. The company records liabilities for environmental issues in the accounting period in which they are considered to be probable and the cost can be reasonably estimated. At environmental sites in which more than one potentially responsible party has been identified, the company records a liability for its allocable share of costs related to its involvement with the site, as well as an allocable share of costs related to insolvent parties or unidentified shares. At environmental sites in which Meritor is the only potentially responsible party, the company records a liability for the total probable and estimable costs of remediation before consideration of recovery from insurers or other third parties.

The company has been designated as a potentially responsible party at ten Superfund sites, excluding sites as to which the company’s records disclose no involvement or as to which the company’s liability has been finally determined. Superfund is a United States federal government program designed to fund the cleanup of sites contaminated with hazardous substances and pollutants. Management estimates the total reasonably possible costs the company could incur for the remediation of the ten Superfund sites at March 31, 2021 to be approximately $22 million, of which $10 million is probable and recorded as a liability. Included in reasonably possible amounts are estimates for certain remediation actions that may be required if current actions are deemed inadequate by the regulators.

In addition to the Superfund sites, various other lawsuits, claims and proceedings have been asserted against the company, alleging violations of federal, state and local environmental protection requirements, or seeking remediation of alleged environmental impairments, principally at previously disposed-of properties. For these matters, management has estimated the total reasonably possible costs the company could incur at March 31, 2021 to be approximately $13 million, of which $4 million is probable and recorded as a liability.

Included in the company’s environmental liabilities are costs for on-going operation, maintenance and monitoring at environmental sites in which remediation has been put into place. This liability is discounted using discount rates in the range of 0 to 1.50 percent and is approximately $13 million at March 31, 2021. The undiscounted estimate of these costs is approximately $14 million.

The following are the components of the Superfund and non-Superfund environmental reserves (in millions):


	Superfund Sites		Non-Superfund Sites		Total
Beginning Balance at September 30, 2020	$	11	$	5	$	16
Payments and other	(2)		(1)		(3)
Accruals	1		—		1
Ending Balance at March 31, 2021	$	10	$	4	$	14

Environmental reserves are included in Other Current Liabilities (see Note 11) and Other Liabilities (see Note 12) in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet.

The actual amount of costs or damages for which the company may be held responsible could materially exceed the foregoing estimates because of uncertainties, including the financial condition of other potentially responsible parties, the success of the remediation, discovery of new contamination and other factors that make it difficult to predict actual costs accurately. However, based on management’s assessment, after consulting with outside advisors that specialize in environmental matters, and subject to the difficulties inherent in estimating these future costs, the company believes that its expenditures for environmental capital investment and remediation necessary to comply with present regulations governing environmental protection and other expenditures for the resolution of environmental claims will not have a material effect on the company’s business, financial condition or results of operations. In addition, in future periods, new laws and regulations, changes in remediation plans, advances in technology and additional information about the ultimate clean-up remedies could significantly change the company’s estimates. Management cannot assess the possible effect of compliance with future requirements.

Asbestos

Rockwell International Corporation ("Rockwell") — ArvinMeritor, Inc. ("AM"), a predecessor of Meritor, along with many other companies, has been named as a defendant in lawsuits alleging personal injury as a result of exposure to asbestos used in certain components of Rockwell products many years ago. Liability for these claims was transferred at the time of the spin-off of the automotive business from Rockwell in 1997. There were approximately 1,200 pending active asbestos claims in lawsuits that name AM, together with many other companies, as defendants as of March 31, 2021 and September 30, 2020. In March 2021, AM entered into a tolling agreement with an asbestos plaintiff's law firm. Under the terms of this agreement, AM agreed to toll the statute of limitations from expiring on asbestos claims in exchange for the plaintiff's firm agreeing not to raise a claim until there is product identification linking AM. The plaintiff firm also agreed to dismiss pending active claims for which product identification was not yet determined. The dismissal of these claims is expected to occur in the third fiscal quarter of fiscal year 2021. According to the terms of the tolling agreement, if the plaintiff's firm subsequently links AM's product to the plaintiff, they will refile a claim against AM.

A significant portion of the claims do not identify any Rockwell products or specify which of the claimants, if any, were exposed to asbestos attributable to Rockwell products, and past experience has shown that the vast majority of the claimants will likely never identify any of Rockwell products. Historically, AM has been dismissed from the vast majority of similar claims filed in the past with no payment to claimants. For those claimants who do show that they worked with Rockwell products, management nevertheless believes it has meritorious defenses, in substantial part due to the integrity of the products involved and the lack of any impairing medical condition on the part of many claimants.

Pending and Future Claims: The company engaged a third-party advisor with extensive experience in assessing asbestos-related liabilities to conduct a study to estimate its potential undiscounted liability for pending and future asbestos-related claims as of September 30, 2020. Management continuously monitors the underlying claims data and experience for the purpose of assessing the appropriateness of the assumptions used to estimate the liability.

As of September 30, 2020, the best estimate of the company's obligation for asbestos-related claims over the next 38 years was $78 million. The company recognized a liability for pending and future claims over the next 38 years of $75 million as of March 31, 2021. The ultimate cost of resolving pending and future claims is estimated based on the history of claims and expenses for plaintiffs represented by law firms in jurisdictions with an established history with Rockwell.

Recoveries: AM has insurance coverage that management believes covers indemnity and defense costs, over and above self-insurance retentions, for a significant portion of these claims. The company recognizes insurance recoveries when the claim for recovery is deemed probable and to the extent an insurable loss has been recognized in the financial statements. The company’s determination is based on analysis of the underlying insurance policies, historical experience with insurers, ongoing review of the solvency of insurers, and consideration of any insurance settlements The insurance receivables for Rockwell asbestos-related liabilities totaled $59 million and $62 million as of March 31, 2021 and September 30, 2020, respectively.

The amounts recorded for the asbestos-related reserves and recoveries from insurance companies are based upon assumptions and estimates derived from currently known facts. All such estimates of liabilities and recoveries for asbestos-related claims are subject to considerable uncertainty because such liabilities and recoveries are influenced by variables that are difficult to predict. The future litigation environment for Rockwell could change significantly from its past experience, due, for example, to changes in the mix of claims filed against Rockwell in terms of plaintiffs’ law firm, jurisdiction and disease; legislative or regulatory developments; the company’s approach to defending claims; or payments to plaintiffs from other defendants. Estimated recoveries are influenced by coverage issues among insurers and the continuing solvency of various insurance companies. If the assumptions with respect to the estimation period, the nature of pending claims, the cost to resolve claims and the amount of available insurance prove to be incorrect, the actual amount of liability for Rockwell asbestos-related claims, and the effect on the company, could differ materially from current estimates and, therefore, could have a material impact on the company’s financial condition and results of operations. However, the amount of reasonably possible and estimable losses in excess of the recorded asbestos-related liabilities was determined to be immaterial.

Indemnification

The company has provided indemnities in conjunction with certain transactions, primarily divestitures. These indemnities address a variety of matters, which may include environmental, tax, asbestos, labor and employment-related matters, and the periods of indemnification vary in duration.

The company is not aware of any claims or other information that would give rise to material payments under such indemnification obligations.

Other

In addition, various lawsuits, claims and proceedings, other than those specifically disclosed in the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, have been or may be instituted or asserted against the company, relating to the conduct of the company’s business, including those pertaining to product liability, warranty or recall claims, intellectual property, safety and health, contract and employment matters. Although the outcome of other litigation cannot be predicted with certainty, and some lawsuits, claims or proceedings may be disposed of unfavorably to the company, management believes the disposition of matters that are pending will not have a material effect on the company’s business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.