Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Product Liability Claims

The Company is subject to product warranty claims that arise in the ordinary course of its business. For certain manufactured products, the Company maintains a product warranty accrual, which is adjusted on a monthly basis as a percentage of cost of sales. In addition, the product warranty accrual is adjusted periodically based on the identification or resolution of known individual product warranty claims.

The following table sets forth the Company’s product warranty accrual:


	Warranty Liability
Balance as of December 31, 2020	$	1,249
Additions to warranty liability	110
Warranty liability utilized	(92)
Balance as of March 31, 2021	$	1,267

Union Pacific Railroad (“UPRR”) Concrete Tie Matter

On March 13, 2019, the Company and its subsidiary, CXT Incorporated (“CXT”), entered into a Settlement Agreement (the “Settlement Agreement”) with UPRR to resolve the pending litigation in the matter of Union Pacific Railroad Company v. L.B. Foster Company and CXT Incorporated, Case No. CI 15-564, in the District Court for Douglas County, Nebraska.

Under the Settlement Agreement, the Company and CXT will pay UPRR the aggregate amount of $50,000 without pre-judgment interest, which began with a $2,000 immediate payment, and with the remaining $48,000 paid in installments over a six-year period commencing on the effective date of the Settlement Agreement through December 2024 pursuant to a Promissory Note. Additionally, commencing in January 2019 and through December 2024, UPRR agreed to purchase and has been purchasing from the Company and its subsidiaries and affiliates, a cumulative total amount of $48,000 of products and services, targeting $8,000 of annual purchases per year beginning March 13, 2019 per letters of intent under the Settlement Agreement. The Settlement Agreement also includes a mutual release of all claims and liability regarding or relating to all CXT pre-stressed concrete railroad ties with no admission of liability and dismissal of the litigation with prejudice.

The expected payments under the UPRR Settlement Agreement for the remainder of the year ending December 31, 2021 and thereafter are as follows:


Year Ending December 31,
Remainder of 2021	$	8,000
2022	8,000
2023	8,000
2024	8,000


Total	$	32,000

Environmental and Legal Proceedings

The Company is subject to national, state, foreign, provincial, and/or local laws and regulations relating to the protection of the environment. The Company’s efforts to comply with environmental regulations may have an adverse effect on its future earnings.

On June 5, 2017, a General Notice Letter was received from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) indicating that the Company may be a potentially responsible party (“PRP”) regarding the Portland Harbor Superfund Site cleanup along with numerous other companies. More than 140 other companies received such a notice. The Company and a predecessor owned and operated a facility near the harbor site for a period prior to 1982. The net present value and undiscounted costs of the selected remedy throughout the harbor site are estimated by the EPA to be approximately $1.1 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively, and the remedial work is expected to take as long as 13 years to complete. The Company is reviewing the basis for its identification by the EPA and the nature of the historic operations of a Company predecessor near the site. Additionally, the Company executed a PRP agreement which provides for a private allocation process among almost 100 PRPs in a working group whose work is ongoing. On March 26, 2020, the EPA issued a Unilateral Administrative Order to two parties requiring them to perform remedial design work for that portion of the Harbor Superfund Site that includes the area closest to the facility; the Company was not a recipient of this Unilateral Administrative Order. The Company cannot predict the ultimate impact of these proceedings because of the large number of PRPs involved throughout the harbor site, the degree of contamination of various wastes, varying environmental impacts throughout the harbor site, the scarcity of data related to the facility once operated by the Company and a predecessor, and the speculative nature of the remediation costs. Based upon information currently available, management does not believe that the Company’s alleged PRP status regarding the Portland Harbor Superfund Site or other compliance with the present environmental protection laws will have a material adverse effect on the financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, competitive position, or capital expenditures of the Company.

As of March 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, the Company maintained environmental reserves approximating $2,545 and $2,562, respectively. The following table sets forth the Company’s environmental obligation:


	Environmental liability
Balance as of December 31, 2020	$	2,562

Environmental obligations utilized	(17)
Balance as of March 31, 2021	$	2,545

The Company is also subject to other legal proceedings and claims that arise in the ordinary course of its business. Legal actions are subject to inherent uncertainties, and future events could change management’s assessment of the probability or estimated amount of potential losses from pending or threatened legal actions. Based on available information, it is the opinion of management that the ultimate resolution of pending or threatened legal actions, both individually and in the aggregate, will not result in losses having a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial position or liquidity as of March 31, 2021.

If management believes that, based on available information, it is at least reasonably possible that a material loss (or additional material loss in excess of any accrual) will be incurred in connection with any legal actions, the Company discloses an estimate of the possible loss or range of loss, either individually or in the aggregate, as appropriate, if such an estimate can be made, or discloses that an estimate cannot be made. Based on the Company’s assessment as of March 31, 2021, no such disclosures were considered necessary.