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Contingencies
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Contingencies Contingencies
The Company is a party to various legal proceedings, lawsuits and administrative actions, which are of an ordinary or routine nature for a company of its size and sector. The Company believes that such proceedings, lawsuits and administrative actions will not materially adversely affect its operations, financial condition, liquidity or competitive position. A more detailed discussion of certain of these proceedings, lawsuits and administrative actions is set forth below.
Asbestos and Silica Related Litigation
The Company has been named as a defendant in a number of asbestos-related and silica-related personal injury lawsuits. The plaintiffs in these suits allege exposure to asbestos or silica from multiple sources and typically the Company is one of approximately 25 or more named defendants.
Predecessors to the Company sometimes manufactured, distributed and/or sold products allegedly at issue in the pending asbestos and silica-related lawsuits (the “Products”). However, neither the Company nor its predecessors ever mined, manufactured, mixed, produced or distributed asbestos fiber or silica sand, the materials that allegedly caused the injury underlying the lawsuits. Moreover, the asbestos-containing components of the Products, if any, were enclosed within the subject Products.
Although the Company has never mined, manufactured, mixed, produced or distributed asbestos fiber or silica sand nor sold products that could result in a direct asbestos or silica exposure, many of the companies that did engage in such activities or produced such products are no longer in operation. This has led to law firms seeking potential alternative companies to name in lawsuits where there has been an asbestos or silica related injury.
The Company believes that the pending and future asbestos and silica-related lawsuits are not likely to, in the aggregate, have a material adverse effect on its consolidated financial position, results of operations or liquidity, based on: the Company’s anticipated insurance and indemnification rights to address the risks of such matters; the limited potential asbestos exposure from the Products described above; the Company’s experience that the vast majority of plaintiffs are not impaired with a disease attributable to alleged exposure to asbestos or silica from or relating to the Products or for which the Company otherwise bears responsibility; various potential defenses available to the Company with respect to such matters; and the Company’s prior disposition of comparable matters. However, inherent uncertainties of litigation and future developments, including, without limitation, potential insolvencies of insurance companies or other defendants, an adverse determination in the Adams County Case (discussed below), or other inability to collect from the Company’s historical insurers or indemnitors, could cause a different outcome. While the outcome of legal proceedings is inherently uncertain, based on presently known facts, experience, and circumstances, the Company believes that the amounts accrued on its balance sheet are adequate and that the liabilities arising from the asbestos and silica-related personal injury lawsuits will not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s consolidated financial position, results of operations or liquidity. “Accrued liabilities” and “Other liabilities” in the Consolidated Balance Sheets include a total litigation reserve of $131.4 million and $118.1 million as of December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019 respectively, with regards to potential liability arising from the Company’s asbestos-related litigation. Asbestos related defense costs are excluded from the asbestos claims liability and are recorded separately as services are incurred. In the event of unexpected future developments, it is possible that the ultimate resolution of these matters may be material to the Company’s consolidated financial position, results of operation or liquidity.
The Company has entered into a series of agreements with certain of its or its predecessors’ legacy insurers and certain potential indemnitors to secure insurance coverage and/or reimbursement for the costs associated with the asbestos and silica-related lawsuits filed against the Company. The Company has also pursued litigation against certain insurers or indemnitors, where necessary. The Company has an insurance recovery receivable for probable asbestos related recoveries of approximately $132.1 million and $122.4 million as of December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively, which was included in “Other assets” in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. During the year ended December 31, 2018, the Company received asbestos related insurance recoveries of $14.4 million, of which $6.2 million related to the recovery of indemnity payments, and was recorded as a reduction of the insurance recovery receivable in “Other assets” in the Consolidated Balance Sheets, and $8.2 million related to the reimbursement of previously expensed legal defense costs, and was recorded as a reduction of “Selling and administrative expenses” in the Consolidated Statements of Operations. There were no material recoveries received in the years ended December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019.
The most recent significant action brought by the Company against an insurer, Gardner Denver, Inc. v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London, et al., was filed on July 9, 2010, in the Eighth Judicial Circuit, Adams County, Illinois, as case number 10-L-48 (the “Adams County Case”). In the lawsuit, the Company seeks, among other things, to require certain excess insurer defendants to honor their insurance policy obligations to the Company, including payment in whole or in part of the costs associated with the asbestos-related lawsuits filed against the Company. In October 2011, the Company reached a settlement with one of the insurer defendants, which had issued both primary and excess policies, for approximately the amount of such defendant’s policies that were subject to the lawsuit. Since then, the case has been proceeding through the discovery and motions process with the remaining insurer defendants. On January 29, 2016, the Company prevailed on the first phase of that discovery and motions process (“Phase I”). Specifically, the Court in the Adams County Case ruled that the Company has rights under all of the policies in the case, subject to their terms and conditions, even though the policies were sold to the Company’s former owners rather than to the Company itself. On June 9, 2016, the Court denied a motion by several of the insurers who sought permission to appeal the Phase I ruling immediately rather than waiting until the end of the whole case as is normally required. The case is now proceeding through the discovery process regarding the remaining issues in dispute (“Phase II”).
A majority of the Company’s expected future recoveries of the costs associated with the asbestos-related lawsuits are the subject of the Adams County Case.
The amounts recorded by the Company for asbestos-related liabilities and insurance recoveries are based on currently available information and assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable based on an evaluation of relevant factors. The actual liabilities or insurance recoveries could be higher or lower than those recorded if actual results vary significantly from the assumptions. There are a number of key variables and assumptions including the number and type of new claims to be filed each year, the resolution or outcome of these claims, the average cost of resolution of each new claim, the amount of insurance available, allocation methodologies, the contractual terms with each insurer with whom the Company has reached settlements, the resolution of coverage issues with other excess insurance carriers with whom the Company has not yet achieved settlements, and the solvency risk with respect to the Company’s insurance carriers. Other factors that may affect the future liability include uncertainties surrounding the litigation process from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and from case to case, legal rulings that may be made by state and federal courts, and the passage of state or federal legislation. The Company makes the
necessary adjustments for the asbestos liability and corresponding insurance recoveries on an annual basis unless facts or circumstances warrant assessment as of an interim date.
Environmental Matters
The Company has been identified as a potentially responsible party (“PRP”) with respect to several sites designated for cleanup under U.S. federal “Superfund” or similar state laws that impose liability for cleanup of certain waste sites and for related natural resource damages. Persons potentially liable for such costs and damages generally include the site owner or operator and persons that disposed or arranged for the disposal of hazardous substances found at those sites. Although these laws impose joint and several liability on PRPs, in application the PRPs typically allocate the investigation and cleanup costs based upon the volume of waste contributed by each PRP. Based on currently available information, the Company was only a small contributor to these waste sites, and the Company has, or is attempting to negotiate, de minimis settlements for their cleanup. The cleanup of the remaining sites is substantially complete and the Company’s future obligations entail a share of the sites’ ongoing operating and maintenance expense. The Company is also addressing several on-site cleanups for which it is the primary responsible party.
The Company has undiscounted accrued liabilities of $13.7 million and $6.6 million as of December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively, on its Consolidated Balance Sheets to the extent costs are known or can be reasonably estimated for its remaining financial obligations for the environmental matters discussed above and does not anticipate that any of these matters will result in material additional costs beyond amounts accrued. Based upon consideration of currently available information, the Company does not anticipate any material adverse effect on its results of operations, financial condition, liquidity or competitive position as a result of compliance with federal, state, local or foreign environmental laws or regulations, or cleanup costs relating to these matters.