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Commitments and Contingencies | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2021
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies | Commitments and Contingencies Environmental We are subject to federal, state, local, and foreign environmental laws and regulations concerning, among other matters, waste water effluents, air emissions, and handling and disposal of hazardous materials, such as cleaning fluids. We are involved with environmental compliance, investigation, monitoring, and remediation activities at certain of our owned and formerly owned manufacturing facilities and at one owned facility that is leased to a third party, and, except for these continuing remediation efforts, believe we are currently in substantial compliance with all known environmental regulations. At September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, we had undiscounted accrued environmental reserves o f $0.2 and $0.3, respectively. Legal Proceedings Stainless Steel Cryobiological Tank Legal Proceedings In connection with our divestiture of our Cryobiological business, Chart retained certain potential liabilities, including claims in connection with our following litigation. During the second quarter of 2018, Chart was named in a number of lawsuits (including lawsuits filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California) filed against Chart and other defendants with respect to the alleged failure of a stainless steel cryobiological storage tank (model MVE 808AF-GB) at the Pacific Fertility Center in San Francisco, California. In May and June of 2021, the first five of the federal lawsuits went to trial, and on June 10, 2021, the jury reached a verdict against Chart in favor of the plaintiffs in those lawsuits in the amount of $14.9, of which 90% ($13.5) is attributable to Chart. On August 13, 2021, judgment was entered, and on September 10, 2021, we filed two post-trial motions: a motion for a new trial and a renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law. The motion for new trial or, in the alternative, request for remittitur, seeks, among other relief, to have the court grant a new trial because of erroneous evidentiary rulings, a factually unsupported negligence claim, plaintiffs’ attorney misconduct, allocation of fault that was not supported by the record, and excessive noneconomic damages. The renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law seeks to have the court direct judgment for Chart on the negligent failure to recall claim because of our contention that plaintiffs failed to present sufficient evidence to prove each element of that claim. Additionally, we continue to have the option to file an appeal. In the second quarter 2021, we recorded a loss contingency accrual and corresponding charge to net income for $13.5 in the amou nt of the jury verdict attributable to Chart. The loss contingency accrual is included in other current liabilities in our unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheet at September 30, 2021. Chart expects that any potential loss associated with the verdict will be covered by existing product liability insurance, subject to previously issued reservations of rights by the insurance carriers. Accordingly, we have recorded an offsetting $13.5 loss recovery receivable with a corresponding credit to net income. The loss recovery receivable is included in other current assets in our unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheet at September 30, 2021. Although we continue to vigorously contest the result in this case, we continue to recognize the loss contingency accrual and related loss recovery receivable in our unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheet at September 30, 2021. Currently there are 148 additional individual cases (excluding the first five cases from the May/June 2021 trial) with respect to the Pacific Fertility Center incident on the docket in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the next five of which are currently scheduled for trial in January 2022. In addition to the cases filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Chart is currently a defendant in 53 individual cases in the San Francisco Superior Court. We have asserted various defenses against the claims in the lawsuits, which remain in various stages of development, including a defense that since manufacture, we were not in any way involved with the installation, ongoing maintenance or monitoring of the tank or related fertility center cryogenic systems at any time since the initial delivery of the tank. We continue to evaluate the merits of such claims for each specific case in light of the information available to date regarding use, maintenance and operation of the tank that was sold to the Pacific Fertility Center through an independent distributor, and which had been out of our control for six years prior to the alleged failure. Based on our current evaluation of the remaining cases, an accrual related to any damages that may result from the remaining lawsuits has not been recorded as of September 30, 2021 because a potential loss is not currently probable. Although a loss associated with the claims in the lawsuits is reasonably possible, an estimate of such potential loss cannot be made. We are occasionally subject to various legal claims related to performance under contracts, product liability, taxes, employment matters, environmental matters, intellectual property, and other matters incidental to the normal course of our business. Based on our historical experience in litigating these claims, as well as our current assessment of the underlying merits of the claims and applicable insurance, if any, management believes that the final resolution of these matters, including the Pacific Fertility Center cases described above, will not have a material adverse effect on our financial position, liquidity, cash flows, or results of operations, except that our results of operations for any particular reporting period may be adversely affected by any potential or actual loss that is accrued in such period. Future developments may, however, result in resolution of these legal claims in a way that could have a material adverse effect.

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