Contingent Liabilities

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Notes to Financial Statements

Contingent Liabilities

14. Contingent Liabilities.

Certain of the Company’s subsidiaries are involved in litigation on a number of matters and are subject to certain claims which arise in the normal course of business. The Company has retained certain self-insurance risks with respect to losses for third party liability and property damage. The liability at any point in time depends upon the relative ages and amounts of the individual open claims. In the opinion of management, none of these matters are expected to have a material adverse effect on the Company’s consolidated financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Preliminary testing on the site of the Company's four phase master development known as RiverFront on the Anacostia in Washington, D.C. indicated the presence of contaminated material that will have to be specially handled upon excavation in conjunction with construction. The Company agreed with our joint venture partner to bear the cost of handling the contaminated materials on the first phase of this development up to a cap of $1.871 million. As of September 30, 2016, the excavation and foundation work for Phase 1 were substantially complete and the total remediation expense was $1.833 million. During the quarter ending December 31, 2015, management successfully completed negotiations and entered into a $3,000,000 settlement of environmental claims on all four phases against our former tenant at the Riverfront on the Anacostia property and continues to pursue settlement negotiations with other potentially responsible parties. The Company executed a letter of intent with MRP Realty in May 2016 to develop Phase II of the Riverfront on the Anacostia project and recorded an estimated environmental remediation expense of $2.0 million for the Company’s estimated liability under the proposed agreement. The Company has no obligation to remediate this contamination on Phases III and IV of the development until such time as it makes a commitment to commence construction on each phase. The Company's actual expense to address this issue may be materially higher or lower than the expense previously recorded depending upon the actual costs incurred.