The Corporation and its subsidiaries are involved in various claims and lawsuits incidental to their businesses and are also subject to asbestos litigation as described below. In February 2017, the Corporation, its indirect subsidiary Akers National Roll Company, as well as the Akers National Roll Company Health & Welfare Benefits Plan were named as defendants in a class action complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, where the plaintiffs (currently retired former employees of Akers National Roll Company and the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial, and Service Workers International Union, AFL-CIO) alleged that the defendants breached collective bargaining agreements and violated the benefit plan by modifying medical benefits of the plaintiffs and similarly situated retirees. The defendants moved to dismiss the case, and plaintiffs petitioned the court to compel arbitration. On June 13, 2017, the District Court compelled arbitration and denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss as moot. Defendants appealed this decision to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals on June 21, 2017. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the District Court’s decision to compel arbitration on August 29, 2018. Rather than litigating the merits of the case at the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, the plaintiffs reached a settlement agreement in principle with the Corporation, which was approved by the court on July 22, 2019. As expected, the final resolution of this settlement agreement did not have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial position, liquidity or capital resources.

Claims have been asserted alleging personal injury from exposure to asbestos-containing components historically used in some products manufactured by predecessors of Air & Liquid Systems Corporation (“Asbestos Liability”). Air & Liquid Systems Corporation (“Air & Liquid”), and in some cases the Corporation, are defendants (among a number of defendants) in cases filed in various state and federal courts.

The following table reflects approximate information about the claims for Asbestos Liability against Air & Liquid and the Corporation for the nine months ended September 30, 2019, and 2018 (claims not in thousands):

	Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2019			2018
Total claims pending at the beginning of the period		6,772			6,907
New claims served		1,014			970
Claims dismissed		(803	)		(1,030	)
Claims settled		(282	)		(304	)
Total claims pending at the end of the period ⁽¹⁾		6,701			6,543
Gross settlement and defense costs (in 000’s)	$	14,969		$	18,530
Avg. gross settlement and defense costs per claim resolved (in 000’s)	$	13.80		$	13.89

(1)

Included as “open claims” are approximately 729 and 678 claims in 2019 and 2018, respectively, classified in various jurisdictions as “inactive” or transferred to a state or federal judicial panel on multi-district litigation, commonly referred to as the MDL.

A substantial majority of the settlement and defense costs reflected in the above table was reported and paid by insurers. Because claims are often filed and can be settled or dismissed in large groups, the amount and timing of settlements, as well as the number of open claims, can fluctuate significantly from period to period.

Asbestos Insurance

The Corporation and Air & Liquid are parties to a series of settlement agreements (“Settlement Agreements”) with insurers that have coverage obligations for Asbestos Liability (the “Settling Insurers”). Under the Settlement Agreements, the Settling Insurers accept financial responsibility, subject to the terms and conditions of the respective agreements, including overall coverage limits, for pending and future claims for Asbestos Liability. The Settlement Agreements encompass the substantial majority of insurance policies that provide coverage for claims for Asbestos Liability.

The Settlement Agreements include acknowledgements that Howden North America, Inc. (“Howden”) is entitled to coverage under policies covering Asbestos Liability for claims arising out of the historical products manufactured or distributed by Buffalo Forge, a former subsidiary of the Corporation (the “Products”), which was acquired by Howden. The Settlement Agreements do not provide for any prioritization on access to the applicable policies or any sublimits of liability as to Howden or the Corporation and Air & Liquid, and, accordingly, Howden may access the coverage afforded by the Settling Insurers for any covered claim arising out of a Product. In general, access by Howden to the coverage afforded by the Settling Insurers for the Products will erode coverage under the Settlement Agreements available to the Corporation and Air & Liquid for Asbestos Liability.

Asbestos Valuations

In 2006, the Corporation retained Hamilton, Rabinovitz & Associates, Inc. (“HR&A”), a nationally recognized expert in the valuation of asbestos liabilities, to assist the Corporation in estimating the potential liability for pending and unasserted future claims for Asbestos Liability. Based on this analysis, the Corporation recorded a reserve for Asbestos Liability claims pending or projected to be asserted through 2013 as of December 31, 2006. HR&A’s analysis has been periodically updated since that time. In 2018, the Corporation engaged Nathan Associates Inc. (“Nathan”) to update the liability valuation, and additional reserves were established by the Corporation as of December 31, 2018, for Asbestos Liability claims pending or projected to be asserted through 2052. The methodology used by Nathan in its projection in 2018 of the operating subsidiaries’ liability for pending and unasserted potential future claims for Asbestos Liability, which is substantially the same as the methodology employed by HR&A in prior estimates, relied upon and included the following factors:

•

interpretation of a widely accepted forecast of the population likely to have been exposed to asbestos;

•

epidemiological studies estimating the number of people likely to develop asbestos-related diseases;

•

analysis of the number of people likely to file an asbestos-related injury claim against the subsidiaries and the Corporation based on such epidemiological data and relevant claims history from January 1, 2016, to August 19, 2018;

•

an analysis of pending cases, by type of injury claimed and jurisdiction where the claim is filed;

•

an analysis of claims resolution history from January 1, 2016, to August 19, 2018, to determine the average settlement value of claims, by type of injury claimed and jurisdiction of filing; and

•

an adjustment for inflation in the future average settlement value of claims, at an annual inflation rate based on the Congressional Budget Office’s ten year forecast of inflation.

Using this information, Nathan estimated in 2018 the number of future claims for Asbestos Liability that would be filed through the year 2052, as well as the settlement or indemnity costs that would be incurred to resolve both pending and future unasserted claims through 2052. This methodology has been accepted by numerous courts.

In conjunction with developing the aggregate liability estimate referenced above, the Corporation also developed an estimate of probable insurance recoveries for its Asbestos Liability. In developing the estimate, the Corporation considered Nathan’s projection for settlement or indemnity costs for Asbestos Liability and management’s projection of associated defense costs (based on the current defense to indemnity cost ratio), as well as a number of additional factors. These additional factors included the Settlement Agreements in effect, policy exclusions, policy limits, policy provisions regarding coverage for defense costs, attachment points, prior impairment of policies and gaps in the coverage, policy exhaustions, insolvencies among certain of the insurance carriers, and the nature of the underlying claims for Asbestos Liability asserted against the subsidiaries and the Corporation as reflected in the Corporation’s asbestos claims database, as well as estimated erosion of insurance limits on account of claims against Howden arising out of the Products. In addition to consulting with the Corporation’s outside legal counsel on these insurance matters, the Corporation consulted with a nationally recognized insurance consulting firm it retained to assist the Corporation with certain policy allocation matters that also are among the several factors considered by the Corporation when analyzing potential recoveries from relevant historical insurance for Asbestos Liability. Based upon all of the factors considered by the Corporation, and taking into account the Corporation’s analysis of publicly available information regarding the credit-worthiness of various insurers, the Corporation estimated the probable insurance recoveries for Asbestos Liability and defense costs through 2052.

With the assistance of Nathan, the Corporation extended its estimate of the Asbestos Liability, including the costs of settlement and defense costs relating to currently pending claims and future claims projected to be filed against the Corporation through the estimated final date by which the Corporation expects to have settled all asbestos-related claims in 2052. The Corporation’s previous estimate was for asbestos claims filed or projected to be filed against the Corporation through 2026. Our ability to reasonably estimate this liability through the expected final date of settlement for all asbestos-related claims of this litigation instead of a ten-year period was based on several factors:

•

There have been generally favorable developments in the trend of case law which has been a contributing factor in stabilizing the asbestos claims activity and related settlement and defense costs;

•

There have been significant actions taken by certain state legislatures and courts that have reduced the number and type of claims that can proceed to trial;

•

The Corporation has coverage-in-place agreements with almost all of its excess insurers which enables the Corporation to project a stable relationship between settlement and defense costs paid by the Corporation and reimbursements from its insurers; and

•

Annual settlements with respect to groups of cases with certain plaintiff firms have helped to stabilize indemnity payments and defense costs.

Taking these factors into consideration, the Corporation believes there is greater predictability of outcomes from settlements, a reduction in the volatility of defense costs, and it has gained substantial experience as an asbestos defendant. As a result, the Corporation believes the uncertainty in estimating the Asbestos Liability beyond 10 years has been reduced and it now has sufficient information to estimate the Asbestos Liability through 2052, the estimated final date by which the Corporation expects to have settled all asbestos-related claims.

The Corporation’s reserve at December 31, 2018, for the total costs, including defense costs, for Asbestos Liability claims pending or projected to be asserted through 2052, was $227,922. The reserve at September 30, 2019, was $212,953. Defense costs are estimated at 80% of settlement costs. The Corporation’s receivable at December 31, 2018, for insurance recoveries attributable to the claims for which the Corporation’s Asbestos Liability reserve has been established, including the portion of incurred defense costs covered by the Settlement Agreements in effect through December 31, 2018, and the probable payments and reimbursements relating to the estimated indemnity and defense costs for pending and unasserted future Asbestos Liability claims, was $152,508 ($141,032 at September 30, 2019).

The following table summarizes activity relating to insurance recoveries for each of the nine months ended September 30, 2019, and 2018.

	Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2019			2018
Insurance receivable – asbestos, beginning of the year	$	152,508		$	100,342
Settlement and defense costs paid by insurance carriers		(11,476	)		(13,011	)
Insurance receivable – asbestos, end of the period	$	141,032		$	87,331

The insurance receivable recorded by the Corporation does not assume any recovery from insolvent carriers and a substantial majority of the insurance recoveries deemed probable is from insurance companies rated A – (excellent) or better by A.M. Best Corporation. There can be no assurance, however, that there will not be further insolvencies among the relevant insurance carriers, or that the assumed percentage recoveries for certain carriers will prove correct. The difference between insurance recoveries and projected costs is not due to exhaustion of all insurance coverage for Asbestos Liability.

The amounts recorded by the Corporation for Asbestos Liability and insurance receivable rely on assumptions that are based on currently known facts and strategy. The Corporation’s actual expenses or insurance recoveries could be significantly higher or lower than those recorded if assumptions used in the Corporation’s or Nathan’s calculations vary significantly from actual results. Key variables in these assumptions are identified above and include the number and type of new claims to be filed each year, the average cost of disposing of each such new claim, average annual defense costs, compliance by relevant parties with the terms of the Settlement Agreements, and the solvency risk with respect to the relevant insurance carriers. Other factors that may affect the Corporation’s Asbestos Liability and ability to recover under its insurance policies include uncertainties surrounding the litigation process from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and from case to case, reforms that may be made by state and federal courts, and the passage of state or federal tort reform legislation.

The Corporation intends to evaluate its estimated Asbestos Liability and related insurance receivable as well as the underlying assumptions on a regular basis to determine whether any adjustments to the estimates are required. Due to the uncertainties surrounding asbestos litigation and insurance, these regular reviews may result in the Corporation incurring future charges; however, the Corporation is currently unable to estimate such future charges. Adjustments, if any, to the Corporation’s estimate of its recorded Asbestos Liability and/or insurance receivable could be material to operating results for the periods in which the adjustments to the liability or receivable are recorded, and to the Corporation’s liquidity and consolidated financial position.