Contingencies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Contingencies [Abstract]

Contingencies

13.    Contingencies

Legal Proceedings

The Corporation is involved in legal proceedings and litigation arising in the ordinary course of business. In those cases where the Corporation is the defendant, plaintiffs may seek to recover large or sometimes unspecified amounts or other types of relief and some matters may remain unresolved for several years. Such matters may be subject to many uncertainties and outcomes which are not predictable with assurance. The Corporation has provided for losses to the extent probable and estimable. The legal matters that have been recorded in the Corporation’s consolidated financial statements are based on gross assessments of expected settlement or expected outcome and do not reflect possible recovery from insurance companies or other parties. Additional losses, even though not anticipated, could have a material adverse effect on the Corporation’s financial position, results of operations or liquidity in any given period.

Guarantee and Indemnification Arrangements

The Corporation generally warrants its products against certain manufacturing and other defects. These product warranties are provided for specific periods of time and usage of the product depending on the nature of the product, the geographic location of its sale and other factors. The accrued product warranty costs are based primarily on historical experience of actual warranty claims as well as current information on repair costs.

The following table provides the changes in the Corporation’s accruals for estimated product warranties:

	Quarter Ended March  31,
	2012			2011
(In thousands)
Balance at beginning of period	$	3,213		$	2,574
Acquired liabilities for warranties		—			—
Liabilities accrued for warranties issued during the period		1,760			455
Warranty claims paid during the period		(709	)		(258	)
Changes in liability for pre-existing warranties during the period, including expirations		(196	)		(64	)
Balance at end of period	$	4,068		$	2,707

The Corporation also continues to monitor events that are subject to guarantees and indemnifications to identify whether it is probable that a loss has occurred, and would recognize any such losses under the guarantees and indemnifications at fair value when those losses are estimable.