Commitments and Contingencies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2014

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies

NOTE 7: COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

From time to time, we are named as a defendant in legal actions incidental to our ordinary course of business. We do not believe that the resolution of these claims will have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows. We maintain liability insurance coverage to assist in protecting our assets from losses arising from or related to activities associated with business operations.

On December 27, 2011, Nancy Hoffman, Mark Hoffman, and Karen Hoffman (collectively, the “plaintiffs”) filed a sixth amended complaint in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois naming JT Ryerson and three other entities as defendants (collectively, the “defendants”) in a lawsuit (Nancy Hoffman, et.al. v. Dorlan Crane, et.al.). That complaint asserted negligence and loss of consortium counts against the defendants for personal injuries allegedly suffered by plaintiffs resulting from a motor vehicle accident. On February 10, 2012, a jury returned a verdict against the defendants and awarded damages totaling $27.7 million for which the defendants were purportedly jointly and severally liable. On August 28, 2012, our post-trial motion was denied. On September 24, 2012, we filed our Notice of Appeal to the Appellate Court of Illinois, First Judicial District. On June 3, 2014, the appellate court affirmed the judgment of the trial court, and in September 2014 the Illinois Supreme Court denied the defendants’ petition to appeal. With this matter now fully adjudicated, this judgment was paid in full in October 2014 by Ryerson’s insurance carriers.

In October 2011, the United States Environmental Protection Agency named us as one of more than 100 businesses that may be a potentially responsible party for the Portland Harbor Superfund Site (“Portland Harbor”). We do not currently have sufficient information available to us to determine the total cost of any required investigation or remediation of the Portland Harbor site and therefore, management cannot predict the ultimate outcome of this matter or estimate a range of potential loss at this time.

There are other various claims and pending actions against the Company. The amount of liability, if any, for those claims and actions at September 30, 2014 is not determinable but, in the opinion of management, such liability, if any, will not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.