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Commitments and Contingencies
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2023
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies Commitments and Contingencies
Legal Proceedings and Government Investigations
 
The Company is periodically involved in lawsuits, investigations and claims that arise in the ordinary course of business. The Company cannot predict with certainty the ultimate resolution of lawsuits, investigations and claims asserted against it. Except
for possible losses from the matters described below, the Company does not believe that any currently pending or threatened legal proceeding to which the Company is or is likely to become a party will have a material adverse effect on its business, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition. The costs incurred by the Company to defend lawsuits, investigations and claims and amounts the Company pays to other parties because of these matters may be covered by insurance in some circumstances.

Litigation and Commercial Claims

The Company was contracted to perform inspections of welds on various pipeline projects in Texas for a customer. The customer provided the Company with notice in December 2019, alleging that the Company’s inspection of 66 welds (out of approximately 16,000 welds inspected) were not in compliance with the contract, claimed approximately $7.6 million in damages, and requested that the Company pay these damages and any other damages incurred. The Company filed a lawsuit in the District Court of Bexar County, Texas, 37th Judicial District, on December 17, 2019, in an action captioned Mistras Group, Inc. v. Epic Y-Grade Pipeline LP, to recover the $1.4 million and other amounts due to the Company. The customer filed a counterclaim on March 6, 2020, alleging breach of contract and seeking recovery of its alleged damages. On April 25, 2023, the parties agreed to settle all claims, and in July 2023, the parties executed a settlement agreement. As part of the settlement, the Company paid $0.3 million in July 2023 (which the Company estimates is significantly less than the cost of going to trial) and released its claim of $1.4 million for associated past due receivables, which were fully reserved for in prior periods. In the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company recorded a charge of $0.1 million for a potential loss from this matter. The Company recorded a reserve in the amount of $1.4 million during the twelve months ended December 31, 2019 for these past due receivables.

Two proceedings were filed in California Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles regarding alleged violations of the California Labor Code. Both cases were captioned Justin Price v. Mistras Group, Inc., one being a purported class action lawsuit on behalf of current and former Mistras employees in California, filed on June 10, 2020, and the other was filed on September 18, 2020, on behalf of the State of California under the California Private Attorney General Act on the basis of the same alleged violations. The two cases were consolidated and payment was demanded for all damages, including unpaid wages, and various fines and penalties available under California law. On May 4, 2021, the Company agreed to a settlement of all claims in the cases, which was more formally documented pursuant to a settlement agreement completed October 5, 2021, as amended as of May 3, 2022. Pursuant to the settlement, the Company agreed to pay $2.3 million to resolve the allegations in these proceedings and to be responsible for the employer portion of payroll taxes on the amount of the settlement allocated to wages. The settlement as agreed upon by the parties received final court approval on September 26, 2022, and the Company paid the settlement proceeds and related payroll taxes to the claims administrator in the fourth quarter of 2022. The Company recorded expense of approximately $1.6 million during the three months ended March 31, 2021 related to this settlement, which is in addition to expense of $0.8 million the Company recorded during the three months ended December 31, 2020.

Pension Related Contingencies

Certain of Company’s subsidiaries had significant reductions in their unionized workers in 2018. The collective bargaining agreements for the employees of this subsidiary required contributions for these employees to two national multi-employer pension funds. The reduction in employees resulted in the subsidiary incurring a complete withdrawal to one of the pension funds under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"), which was fully satisfied in 2019. The Company has determined that the subsidiary is likely to incur partial or complete withdrawal liability to the other pension fund. The balance of the estimated total amount of this potential liability as of December 31, 2023 is approximately $2.5 million, which was incurred in 2018 and 2019.

Acquisition and disposition related contingencies
During 2018, the Company sold a subsidiary in the Products and Systems segment. As part of the sale, the Company entered into a three-year agreement to purchase products from the buyer, with a cumulative commitment of $2.3 million. On August 3, 2021, the parties amended the agreement and extended the period by 12 months. As of December 31, 2022, the commitment was fully satisfied.