Contingencies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 29, 2024

Note 13. Contingencies

The Company is party to a number of lawsuits arising in the normal course of our business. The Company and certain of the Company’s subsidiaries are among numerous defendants in a number of cases seeking damages for alleged exposure to asbestos-contaminated talc products sold by the Company’s subsidiary BMI Oldco Inc. (f/k/a Barretts Minerals Inc.) (“Oldco”).

On October 2, 2023 (the “Petition Date”), notwithstanding the Company’s confidence in the safety of Oldco’s talc products, the Company’s subsidiaries, Oldco and Barretts Ventures Texas LLC ("BVT" and, together with Oldco, the “Chapter 11 Debtors”), filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas (the “Chapter 11 Cases”) to address and comprehensively resolve Oldco’s liabilities associated with talc. Minerals Technologies Inc. and the Company’s other subsidiaries were not included in the Chapter 11 filing.

The Chapter 11 Debtors’ ultimate goal in the Chapter 11 Cases is to confirm a plan of reorganization under Section 524(g) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and utilize this provision of the Bankruptcy Code to establish a trust that will address all current and future talc-related claims. In January 2024, the Chapter 11 Debtors and Minerals Technologies Inc. commenced a court-approved mediation process with the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (appointed in the Chapter 11 Cases as the representative of current talc claimants) (the “Committee”) and the Future Claimants Representative (appointed in the Chapter 11 Cases as the representative of future talc claimants) regarding the terms of a potential consensual plan of reorganization and the ultimate amount to be contributed to any trust. The mediation process is ongoing, and was recently extended through December 11, 2024 (subject to further extensions).

As of September 29, 2024, we had 663 open cases related to certain talc products previously sold by Oldco, which is an increase in volume from previous years. The following table details case activity related to talc products previously sold by Oldco:

	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
(number of claims)	Sep. 29, 2024		Oct. 1, 2023		Sep. 29, 2024		Oct. 1, 2023
Claims pending, beginning of period		638		507		574		439
Claims filed		39		60		118		181
Claims dismissed, settled or otherwise resolved		14		5		29		58

Claims pending, end of period		663		562		663		562

During the pendency of the Chapter 11 Cases, the Company anticipates that the Chapter 11 Debtors will benefit from the operation of the automatic stay, which stays ongoing litigation in connection with talc-related claims against the Chapter 11 Debtors. In addition, subject to certain exceptions, the filing or continued prosecution of all talc-related claims against the Chapter 11 Debtors’ non-debtor affiliates is temporarily stayed through December 11, 2024 (subject to further extensions), the date on which a hearing is scheduled on the status of the Chapter 11 Cases.

These claims typically allege various theories of liability, including negligence, gross negligence and strict liability and seek compensatory and, in some cases, punitive damages, but most of these claims do not provide adequate information to assess their merits, the likelihood that the Company will be found liable, or the magnitude of such liability, if any. We are unable to state an amount or range of amounts claimed in any of these lawsuits because state court pleading practices do not require the plaintiff to identify the amount of the claimed damage. The Company’s position, as stated publicly, is that the talc products sold by Oldco are safe and do not cause cancer.

The Company records accruals for loss contingencies associated with legal matters, including talc-related litigation, when it is probable that a liability will be incurred and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. Amounts accrued for legal contingencies often result from a complex series of judgments about future events and uncertainties that rely heavily on estimates and assumptions including timing of related payments. The ability to make such estimates and judgments can be affected by various factors, including whether damages sought in the proceedings are unsubstantiated or indeterminate, the stage of the litigation, the factual and legal matters in dispute, the ability to achieve comprehensive settlements, the availability of co-defendants with substantial resources and assets participating in the litigation, and our evaluation of the unique attributes of each claim.

While costs relating to the talc-related cases have increased concurrently with the volume, the majority of these costs have historically been borne by Pfizer Inc. ("Pfizer") in connection with certain agreements entered into in connection with the Company’s initial public offering in 1992, and as long as the litigation is subject to the stay under the Chapter 11 Cases (subject to certain exceptions), the Company will not be required to make any payments in respect thereof. The Company is entitled to indemnification, pursuant to agreement, for liabilities arising from sales prior to the initial public offering. On May 22, 2024, Pfizer filed a motion in the Chapter 11 Cases seeking permission to file a lawsuit against the Company related to the 1992 agreement. That motion has been adjourned, and Pfizer and the Company have agreed to mediate their disputes. The Company continues to receive information from Pfizer with respect to potential costs associated with the defense and/or settlement of talc-related cases that Pfizer alleges are not subject to indemnification. Although the Company believes that the talc products are safe and that claims to the contrary are without merit, Oldco opportunistically settled certain talc-related cases in 2022 and 2023. None of such settlements have been material to the Company.

In the second quarter of 2024, Oldco sold its talc assets under section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code. In addition, in the second quarter of 2024, the Company entered into a Debtor-in-Possession Credit Agreement with Oldco (the “DIP Credit Agreement”) and recorded a provision for credit loss of $30 million for the maximum principal amount under such Credit Agreement.

Proceeds of the sale of Oldco’s talc assets and funds drawn by Oldco under the DIP Credit Agreement will be used to fund the Chapter 11 Cases. Following the Chapter 11 filing, the activities of the Chapter 11 Debtors are now subject to review and oversight by the bankruptcy court. As a result, the Chapter 11 Debtors were deconsolidated as of the Petition Date, and their assets and liabilities were derecognized from the Company’s consolidated financial statements on a prospective basis.

On June 25, 2024, the Committee filed a motion to dismiss the Chapter 11 Cases. A hearing on the motion to dismiss, which has been adjourned three times while the parties continue to explore a consensual resolution of issues through the court-approved mediation process, is scheduled to commence on December 10, 2024 (subject to further adjournments). The Chapter 11 Cases remain pending.

The broader litigation and regulatory environments for talc-related claims continue to evolve. Moreover, although the Chapter 11 Cases are progressing, it is not possible at this time to predict how the Bankruptcy Court will rule on the pending motion to dismiss, the form of any ultimate resolution, or when an ultimate resolution might occur. Given the foregoing factors, it is reasonably possible that the Company will incur a loss for liabilities associated with future talc claims in excess of the amount currently recognized. This risk is based on the potential for new talc-related claims that could eventually be asserted together with their associated disposition cost and related legal costs, despite the automatic stay with respect to claims against the Chapter 11 Debtors, taking into account the portion of such hypothetical claims that may be subject to indemnification by Pfizer, as well as the inability to estimate the amount that may be necessary to fully and finally resolve all of the Chapter 11 Debtors’ future talc-related claims in connection with a confirmed Chapter 11 plan of reorganization. Accordingly, the Company is currently unable to provide an estimate or range of the magnitude of any potential loss related to future talc claims. While possible losses associated with future talc claims are not reasonably estimable at this time based on our current knowledge, in light of the uncertainties involved in such matters, the resolution of, or recognition of additional liabilities in connection with, current or future talc claims could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.