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Contingencies | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2016
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Contingencies | CONTINGENCIES In the normal course of business, the Company is party to various commercial and legal claims, actions and complaints, including matters involving warranty claims, intellectual property claims, general liability and various other risks. It is not possible to predict with certainty whether or not the Company will ultimately be successful in any of these commercial and legal matters or, if not, what the impact might be. The Company's environmental and asbestos liability contingencies are discussed separately below. The Company's management does not expect that an adverse outcome in any of these commercial and legal claims, actions and complaints will have a material adverse effect on the Company's results of operations, financial position or cash flows, although it could be material to the results of operations in a particular quarter. Litigation In January 2006, BorgWarner Diversified Transmission Products Inc. ("DTP"), a subsidiary of the Company, filed a declaratory judgment action in United States District Court, Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis Division) against the United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implements Workers of America (“UAW”) Local No. 287 and Gerald Poor, individually and as the representative of a defendant class. DTP sought the Court's affirmation that DTP did not violate the Labor-Management Relations Act or the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by unilaterally amending certain medical plans effective April 1, 2006 and October 1, 2006, prior to the expiration of the then-current collective bargaining agreements. On September 10, 2008, the Court found that DTP's reservation of the right to make such amendments reducing the level of benefits provided to retirees was limited by its collectively bargained health insurance agreement with the UAW, which did not expire until April 24, 2009. Thus, the amendments were untimely. In 2008, the Company recorded a charge of $4.0 million as a result of the Court's decision. DTP filed a declaratory judgment action in the United States District Court, Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis Division) against the UAW Local No. 287 and Jim Barrett and others, individually and as representatives of a defendant class, on February 26, 2009 again seeking the Court's affirmation that DTP did not violate the Labor - Management Relations Act or ERISA by modifying the level of benefits provided retirees to make them comparable to other Company retiree benefit plans after April 24, 2009. Certain retirees, on behalf of themselves and others, filed a mirror-image action in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan (Southern Division) on March 11, 2009, for which a class has been certified. During the last quarter of 2009, the action pending in Indiana was dismissed, while the action in Michigan continued. On December 5, 2016, the Court granted the Company’s Motion for Summary Judgment and ordered dismissal of the retirees’ Complaint with prejudice. No appeal was filed on behalf of the retirees and the time to file an appeal has expired. Environmental The Company and certain of its current and former direct and indirect corporate predecessors, subsidiaries and divisions have been identified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and certain state environmental agencies and private parties as potentially responsible parties (“PRPs”) at various hazardous waste disposal sites under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (“Superfund”) and equivalent state laws and, as such, may presently be liable for the cost of clean-up and other remedial activities at 27 such sites. Responsibility for clean-up and other remedial activities at a Superfund site is typically shared among PRPs based on an allocation formula. The Company believes that none of these matters, individually or in the aggregate, will have a material adverse effect on its results of operations, financial position or cash flows. Generally, this is because either the estimates of the maximum potential liability at a site are not material or the liability will be shared with other PRPs, although no assurance can be given with respect to the ultimate outcome of any such matter. Based on information available to the Company (which in most cases includes: an estimate of allocation of liability among PRPs; the probability that other PRPs, many of whom are large, solvent public companies, will fully pay the cost apportioned to them; currently available information from PRPs and/or federal or state environmental agencies concerning the scope of contamination and estimated remediation and consulting costs; and remediation alternatives), the Company has an accrual for indicated environmental liabilities of $6.3 million and $5.4 million at December 31, 2016 and at December 31, 2015, respectively. The Company expects to pay out substantially all of the amounts accrued for environmental liability over the next five years. In connection with the sale of Kuhlman Electric Corporation (“Kuhlman Electric”), the Company agreed to indemnify the buyer and Kuhlman Electric for certain environmental liabilities, then unknown to the Company, relating to certain operations of Kuhlman Electric that pre-date the Company's 1999 acquisition of Kuhlman Electric. The Company previously settled or obtained dismissals of various lawsuits that were filed against Kuhlman Electric and others, including the Company, on behalf of plaintiffs alleging personal injury relating to alleged environmental contamination at its Crystal Springs, Mississippi plant. The Company filed a lawsuit against Kuhlman Electric and a related entity challenging the validity of the indemnity and the defendants filed counterclaims (the “Indemnity Action”) and a related lawsuit. On September 28, 2015, the parties entered into a confidential settlement agreement that, among other things, released and terminated all of BorgWarner’s indemnity obligations. Pursuant to the settlement agreement, the parties voluntarily dismissed the Indemnity Action on September 29, 2015 and the related lawsuit was dismissed on October 13, 2015. The Company continues to pursue insurance coverage actions for reimbursement of amounts it spent under the indemnity. The Company may in the future become subject to further legal proceedings. Asbestos-related Liability Like many other industrial companies that have historically operated in the United States, the Company, or parties that the Company is obligated to indemnify, continues to be named as one of many defendants in asbestos-related personal injury actions. We believe that the Company’s involvement is limited because these claims generally relate to a few types of automotive products that were manufactured over 30 years ago and contained encapsulated asbestos. The nature of the fibers, the encapsulation of the asbestos, and the manner of the products’ use all lead the Company to believe that these products were and are highly unlikely to cause harm. Furthermore, the useful life of nearly all of these products expired many years ago. As of December 31, 2016 and 2015, the Company had approximately 9,400 and 10,100 pending asbestos-related claims, respectively. The decrease in the number of pending claims is primarily a result of the Company’s continued efforts to obtain dismissal of dormant claims. It is probable that additional asbestos-related claims will be asserted against the Company in the future. The Company vigorously defends against these claims, and has been successful in obtaining the dismissal of the majority of the claims asserted against it without any payment. The Company likewise expects that the vast majority of the pending asbestos-related claims in which it has been named (or has an obligation to indemnify a party which has been named), and asbestos-related claims that may be asserted in the future, will result in no payment being made by the Company or its insurers. In 2016, of the approximately 2,800 claims resolved, 352 (13%) resulted in payment being made to a claimant by or on behalf of the Company. In 2015, of the approximately 5,300 claims resolved, 349 (7%) resulted in payment being made to a claimant by or on behalf of the Company. The comparatively large number of claims resolved in 2015 reflected the Company’s efforts to dismiss large numbers of inactive or otherwise unmeritorious claims in order to be better positioned to evaluate remaining and future claims, while the smaller number of total claims resolved in 2016 reflects in part the outcome of those efforts. Through December 31, 2016 and 2015, the Company had accrued and paid $477.7 million and $432.7 million in indemnity (including settlement payments) and defense costs in connection with asbestos-related claims, respectively. During 2016 and 2015, the Company had paid indemnity and related defense costs totaling $45.3 million and $54.7 million, respectively. These gross payments are before tax benefits and any insurance receipts. Indemnity and defense costs are incorporated into the Company's operating cash flows and will continue to be in the future. The Company reviews, on an ongoing basis, its own experience in handling asbestos-related claims and trends affecting asbestos-related claims in the U.S. tort system generally, for the purposes of assessing the value of pending asbestos-related claims and the number and value of those that may be asserted in the future, as well as potential recoveries from the Company’s insurers with respect to such claims and defense costs. As of December 31, 2015, the Company also recorded an estimated liability of $108.5 million for asbestos-related claims asserted but not yet resolved and their associated defense costs. The Company further stated that, as of that date, its ultimate liability could not be reasonably estimated in excess of the amounts it had then accrued for claims that had been resolved and the estimated liability for claims asserted but not yet resolved and their associated defense costs. The inability to arrive at a reasonable estimate of the liability for potential asbestos-related claims that may be asserted in the future was based on, among other factors, the volatility in the number and type of asbestos claims that may be asserted, changes in asbestos-related litigation in the United States, the significant number of co-defendants that have filed for bankruptcy, the magnitude and timing of co-defendant bankruptcy trust payments, the inherent uncertainty of future disease incidence and claiming patterns against the Company, and the impact of tort reform legislation that may be enacted at the state or federal levels. The Company has continued efforts to evaluate these factors and, if possible, arrive at a reasonable estimate of the number and value of potential future asbestos-related claims. In recent years, there have been more observable trends in the Company’s claims data that would indicate that claiming patterns against the Company have stabilized. Concurrently, in recent years, the Company has made enhancements to the management and analysis of asbestos-related claims, including specifically: the engagement of new National Coordinating Counsel with significant asbestos litigation experience and a global presence, the engagement of several new local counsel panels; outsourcing administration and claims handling to a third party; implementing various improvements in the processing of asbestos-related claims so as to allow the Company’s management to have greater real-time insight into the handling of individual asbestos-related claims; and increasing audits and compliance reviews of counsel handling asbestos-related claims. This process has as of the end of 2016 resulted in improvements in both the quantity and the quality of the information available to the Company’s management respecting individual asbestos-related claims and their handling and disposition. This process has also resulted, in the Company’s view, in an increased ability to reasonably forecast the aggregate number of potential future asbestos-related claims that may be asserted against the Company. The Company has further engaged in a sustained effort to obtain the dismissal of thousands of dormant asbestos-related product liability claims, which has resulted in a reduction in the number of its pending claims by 48 percent over the past few years. Legislative and judicial developments affecting the U.S. tort system generally, including medical criteria legislation, procedural reforms, and docket control measures relating to so-called unimpaired claims, have also stabilized certain aspects of the Company’s defense efforts respecting asbestos-related claims and allowed the Company greater insight into the number and value of potential future claims in recent years. As part of its review and assessment of asbestos-related claims, the Company hired a third party consultant in the third quarter of 2016 to further assist in the analysis of potential future asbestos-related claims. The consultant’s work utilized the updated data and analysis resulting from the Company’s claim review process and included the development of an estimate of the potential value of asbestos-related claims asserted but not yet resolved as well as the number and potential value of asbestos-related claims not yet asserted. The Company determined based on the factors described above, including the analysis and input of the consultant, that its best estimate of the aggregate liability both for asbestos-related claims asserted but not yet resolved and potential asbestos-related claims not yet asserted, including an estimate for defense costs, is $879.3 million as of December 31, 2016. This liability reflects the actuarial central estimate, which is intended to represent an expected value of the most probable outcome. This estimate is not discounted to present value and includes an estimate of liability for potential future claims not yet asserted through December 31, 2059 with a runoff through 2067. The Company currently believes that December 31, 2067 is a reasonable assumption as to the last date on which it is likely to have resolved all asbestos-related claims, based on the nature and useful life of the Company’s products and the likelihood of incidence of asbestos-related disease in the U.S. population generally. In developing the estimate of liability for potential future claims, the third-party consultant projected a potential number of future claims based on the Company’s historical claim filings and patterns and compared that to anticipated levels of unique plaintiff asbestos-related claims asserted in the U.S. tort system against all defendants. The consultant also utilized assumptions based on the Company’s historical proportion of claims resolved without payment, historical settlement costs for those claims that result in a payment, and historical defense costs. The liabilities were then estimated by multiplying the pending and projected future claim filings by projected payments rates and average settlement amounts and then adding an estimate for defense costs. The Company’s estimate of the indemnity and defense costs for asbestos-related claims asserted but not yet resolved and potential claims not yet asserted is its best estimate of such costs. That estimate is subject to numerous uncertainties. These include future legislative or judicial changes affecting the U.S. tort system, bankruptcy proceedings involving one or more co-defendants, the impact and timing of payments from bankruptcy trusts that presently exist and those that may exist in the future, disease emergence and associated claim filings, the impact of future settlements or significant judgments, changes in the medical condition of claimants, changes in the treatment of asbestos-related disease, and any changes in settlement or defense strategies. The amount recorded at December 31, 2016 for asbestos-related claims is based on currently available information and assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable. Any amounts that are reasonably possible of occurring in excess of amounts recorded are believed to not be significant. The various assumptions utilized in arriving at the Company’s estimate the number of future claims that may be asserted, the percentage of claims that may result in a payment, the average cost to resolve such claims, and potential defense costs - may also change over time, and the Company’s actual liability for asbestos-related claims asserted but not yet resolved and those not yet asserted may be higher or lower than the estimate provided herein as a result of such changes. The Company has certain insurance coverage applicable to asbestos-related claims. Prior to June 2004, the settlement and defense costs associated with all asbestos-related claims were paid by the Company's primary layer insurance carriers under a series of interim funding arrangements. In June 2004, primary layer insurance carriers notified the Company of the alleged exhaustion of their policy limits. A declaratory judgment action was filed in January 2004 in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois by Continental Casualty Company and related companies against the Company and certain of its historical general liability insurers. The Cook County court has issued a number of interim rulings and discovery is continuing in this proceeding. The Company is vigorously pursuing the litigation against all carriers that are parties to it, as well as pursuing settlement discussions with its carriers where appropriate. The Company has entered into settlement agreements with certain of its insurance carriers, resolving such insurance carriers’ coverage disputes through the carriers’ agreement to pay specified amounts to the Company, either immediately or over a specified period. Through December 31, 2016 and 2015, the Company had received $270.0 million and $263.9 million in cash and notes from insurers, respectively, on account of indemnity and defense costs respecting asbestos-related claims. The Company additionally recorded assets as of December 31, 2015 in the amount of (i) $168.8 million, representing the difference between the $432.7 million in defense and indemnity costs paid by the Company as of December 31, 2015 for asbestos-related claims and the $263.9 million received from insurers prior to that date, and (ii) $108.5 million, representing the then-estimated amount of asbestos-related claims asserted but not yet resolved for which the Company believes it has insurance coverage. In each case, such amounts were expected to be fully recovered. The Company continues to have additional excess insurance coverage available for potential future asbestos-related claims. In connection with the Company’s ongoing review of its asbestos-related claims, the Company also reviewed the amount of its potential insurance coverage for such claims, taking into account the remaining limits of such coverage, the number and amount of claims on our insurance from co-insured parties, ongoing litigation against the Company’s insurers described above, potential remaining recoveries from insolvent insurers, the impact of previous insurance settlements, and coverage available from solvent insurers not party to the coverage litigation. Based on that review, the Company estimates as of December 31, 2016 that it has $386.4 million in aggregate insurance coverage available with respect to asbestos-related claims already satisfied by the Company but not yet reimbursed by the insurers, asbestos-related claims asserted but not yet resolved, and asbestos-related claims not yet asserted, in each case together with their associated defense costs. In each case, such amounts are expected to be fully recovered. However, the resolution of the insurance coverage litigation, and the number and amount of claims on our insurance from co-insured parties, may increase or decrease the amount of insurance coverage available to us for asbestos-related claims from the estimates discussed above. As a result of all of the foregoing estimates of asbestos-related liabilities and related insurance assets, the Company in the fourth quarter of 2016 recorded a charge of $703.6 million before tax, or $440.6 million after tax, resulting from the difference in the total liability from what was previously accrued, consulting fees, less available insurance coverage. The amounts recorded in the Consolidated Balance Sheets respecting asbestos-related claims are as follows:
| December 31,
(millions of dollars) | 2016 |  | 2015
Assets: |  |  |  |  |
Non-current assets | $ | 386.4 |  |  | $ | 277.3 |
Total insurance assets | $ | 386.4 |  |  | $ | 277.3 |
Liabilities: |  |  |  |  |
Accounts payable and accrued expenses | $ | 51.7 |  |  | $ | 47.7 |
Other non-current liabilities | 827.6 |  |  | 60.8 |
Total accrued liabilities | $ | 879.3 |  |  | $ | 108.5 |

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