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Commitments and Contingencies | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2014
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies |
12. | COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
Legal Matters On December 16, 2013, the United States District Court, Northern District of California Court granted final approval of the settlement with the law firm of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, relating to the previously reported class action lawsuit brought on behalf of Dean Mahan, and other named and similarly situated plaintiffs generally which alleged certain defects in the Company’s products relating to mold growth, color fading and color variation. As of the date of this report, the Company has distributed all cash payments and rebate certificates under the settlement. Claimants who were denied relief could appeal Trex’s decision, and the deadline for appeals has now passed. The Company believes that payments to consumers for all relief under the settlement will not exceed approximately $1.0 million. In addition to such amount, the Company previously paid $1.8 million related to this litigation, representing payment of attorneys’ fees to class counsel and named plaintiff awards in the nationwide settlement and the settlement of corollary cases brought in Indiana, Kentucky, New Jersey and Michigan, all as previously disclosed. The Company has other lawsuits, as well as other claims, pending against it which are ordinary routine litigation and claims incidental to the business. Management has evaluated the merits of these other lawsuits and claims, and believes that their ultimate resolution will not have a material effect on the Company’s consolidated financial condition, results of operations, liquidity or competitive position. Purchase Commitments The Company fulfills requirements for raw materials under both purchase orders and supply contracts. In the year ended December 31, 2014, the Company purchased substantially all of its waste wood fiber requirements under purchase orders, which do not involve long-term supply commitments. Substantially all of the Company’s scrap polyethylene purchases are under short-term supply contracts that average approximately two years, for which pricing is negotiated as needed. The wood and polyethylene supply contracts generally provide that the Company is obligated to purchase all of the wood or polyethylene a supplier provides, if the wood or polyethylene meets certain specifications. The amount of wood and polyethylene the Company is required to purchase under these contracts varies with the production of its suppliers and, accordingly, is not fixed or determinable. As of December 31, 2014, the Company has purchase commitments under raw material supply contracts of $23.6 million, $13.3 million, $5.7 million and $48 thousand for the years ending December 31, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively. The Company outsources the production of certain products to third-party manufacturers under supply contracts that commit the Company to purchase minimum levels for each year extending through 2015. The Company has purchase commitments under the third-party manufacturing contracts of $1.9 million for the year ending December 31, 2015. Contract Termination Costs In anticipation of relocating its corporate headquarters, the Company entered into a lease agreement in 2005. The Company reconsidered and decided not to move its headquarters. The lease obligates the Company to lease 55,047 square feet of office space through June 30, 2019. As of December 31, 2014, the Company has executed subleases for 24,732 square feet of the leased space and is currently marketing the remaining portion of the space to find a suitable tenant. The Company estimates that the present value of the estimated future sublease receipts, net of transaction costs, will be less than the remaining minimum lease payment obligations under its lease and has recorded a liability for the expected shortfall. The Company recorded a $1.1 million charge in 2013 after a subtenant defaulted on its sublease and vacated the space. During 2014, the Company recorded $1.5 million in charges due to downward revisions of its estimate of future sublease receipts resulting from the departure of a subtenant that decided not to renew its sublease at the end of 2014. To estimate future sublease receipts, the Company has assumed that the existing subleases will be renewed or new subleases will be executed at rates consistent with rental rates in the current subleases or estimated market rates and that existing vacancies will be filled within one year. However, management cannot be certain that the timing of future subleases or the rental rates contained in future subleases will not differ from current estimates. Factors such as the availability of commercial office space, market conditions and subtenant preferences will influence the terms achieved in future subleases. The inability to sublet the office space in the future or unfavorable changes to key assumptions used in the estimate of the future sublease receipts may result in material charges to selling, general and administrative expenses in future periods. As of December 31, 2014, the minimum payments remaining under the Company’s lease over the years ending December 31, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 are $1.9 million, $1.9 million, $2.0 million, $2.0 million and $1.0 million, respectively. The minimum receipts remaining under the Company’s existing subleases over the years ending December 31, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 are $0.7 million, $0.6 million, $0.6 million, $0.6 million and $0.4 million, respectively. The following table provides information about the Company’s liability under the lease (in thousands):
|  | 2014 |  |  | 2013 |
Beginning balance, January 1 |  | $ | 1,787 |  |  | $ | 1,103 |
Net rental payments |  |  | (403 | ) |  |  | (558 | )
Accretion of discount |  |  | 178 |  |  |  | 98 |
Increase in net estimated contract termination costs |  |  | 1,471 |  |  |  | 1,144 |
Ending balance, December 31 |  | $ | 3,033 |  |  | $ | 1,787 |
Product Warranty The Company warrants that its products will be free from material defects in workmanship and materials. This warranty generally extends for a period of 25 years for residential use and 10 years for commercial use. (With respect to TrexTrim™ and Trex Reveal® Railing, the warranty period is 25 years for both residential and commercial use.) With respect to the Company’s Transcend®, Enhance®, Select® and Universal Fascia product, the Company further warrants that the product will not fade in color more than a certain amount and will be resistant to permanent staining from food substances or mold (provided the stain is cleaned within seven days of appearance). This warranty extends for a period of 25 years for residential use and 10 years for commercial use. If there is a breach of such warranties, the Company has an obligation either to replace the defective product or refund the purchase price. Historically, the Company has not had material numbers of claims submitted or settled under the provisions of its product warranties, with the exception of claims related to material produced at its Nevada facility prior to 2007 that exhibits surface flaking. The Company continues to receive and settle surface flaking claims and maintains a warranty reserve to provide for the settlement of these claims. In 2009, the Company agreed to a settlement of a class action lawsuit covering the surface defect, stipulating its responsibilities with regard to such claims. Estimating the warranty reserve for surface flaking claims requires management to estimate (1) the number of claims to be settled with payment and (2) the average cost to settle each claim, both of which are subject to variables that are difficult to estimate. The key component driving the Company’s potential liability is the number of claims that will ultimately require payment. To estimate the number of future paid claims, the Company utilizes actuarial techniques to quantify both the expected number of claims to be received and the percentage of those claims that will ultimately require payment. Estimates for both of these elements (number and percentage of claims that will ultimately require payment) are quantified using a range of assumptions derived from the recent claim count history and the identification of factors influencing the claim counts, including the downward trend in received claims due to the passage of time since production of the suspect material. For each of the various parameters used in the analysis, the assumed values in the actuarial valuation produce results that represent the Company’s best estimate for the ultimate number of claims to be settled with payment. A number of factors make estimates of the number of claims to be received inherently uncertain. The Company believes that production of the suspect material was confined to material produced from its Nevada facility prior to 2007, but is unable to determine the amount of suspect material produced or the exact time it takes for surface flaking to become evident in the suspect material and materialize as a claim. Furthermore, the aforementioned 2009 class action settlement and communications made by the Company in July 2013 informing homeowners of potential hazards associated with decking products exhibiting surface flaking that are not timely replaced led to increased claims volume and disrupted the claims data and settlement patterns. Lastly, the Company is not aware of any analogous industry data that might be referenced in predicting future claims to be received. The number of surface flaking claims received peaked in 2009 in conjunction with the class action settlement and has declined each year thereafter. The cost per claim varies due to a number of factors, including the size of affected decks, the type of replacement material used, the cost of production of replacement material and the method of claim settlement. Although the cost per claim does vary, it is less volatile and more predictable than the number of claims to be settled with payment, which is inherently uncertain. The cost per claim declined from 2007 through 2009 but has increased each year thereafter. The Company monitors surface flaking claims activity each quarter for indications that its estimate of the number of claims expected requires revision. Due to extensive use of decks during the summer outdoor season, variance to annual claims expectations is typically observed during the latter part of the Company’s fiscal year. During the third quarter of 2013, the number of claims received was significantly greater than the Company’s prior estimates. The Company believes that this unexpected increase in claims was due primarily to a response to communications made by the Company in July 2013 informing homeowners of potential hazards associated with decking products exhibiting surface flaking that are not timely replaced. These communications included a public press release and over 10,000 letters sent to homeowners that previously filed surface flaking claims. In addition to contributing to the increase in new claims received, these communications resulted in the reopening of a significant number of claims previously closed. Furthermore, although not directly related to the surface flaking issue, in August 2013, the United States District Court, Northern District of California granted preliminary approval of a settlement agreement related to cases in which plaintiffs generally alleged certain defects in the Company’s products and alleged misrepresentations relating to mold growth. The Company believes that public notices made subsequent to the Court approval increased homeowner awareness of product-related issues and contributed to the increased number of surface flaking claims received during the third quarter of 2013. Due to the unfavorable claims experience during the three months ended September 30, 2013, the Company revised its estimate of the number of remaining future claims and recorded a $20 million increase to the warranty reserve. During 2014, the number of claims received was lower than the Company’s expectations, while the average cost per claim was higher than the Company’s expectations for 2014. Based on claims activity experienced during the current year, the Company revised its assumed future number of claims and average cost per claim. The revised assumptions did not result in a change to the Company’s reserve, which as of December 31, 2014, the Company believes is sufficient to cover future surface flaking obligations. The increase in the amount paid to settle surface flaking claims in 2014, as compared to 2013, was primarily a result of the large number of claims received during the second half of 2013, as described above. The Company’s analysis is based on currently known facts and a number of assumptions. Projecting future events such as the number of claims to be received, the number of claims that will require payment and the average cost of claims could cause the actual warranty liabilities to be higher or lower than those projected which could materially affect the Company’s financial condition, results of operations or cash flow. The Company estimates that the number of claims received will decline over time and that the average cost per claim will remain relatively stable. If the level of claims received or average cost per claim differs materially from expectations, it could result in additional increases to the warranty reserve and reduced earnings and cash flows in future periods. The Company estimates that a 10% change in the expected number of remaining claims to be settled with payment or the expected cost to settle claims may result in approximately a $3.1 million change in the surface flaking warranty reserve. The following is a reconciliation of the Company’s surface flaking warranty reserve (in thousands):
|  | 2014 |  |  | 2013 |
Beginning balance, January 1 |  | $ | 40,312 |  |  | $ | 28,487 |
Changes in estimates related to pre-existing warranties |  |  | — |  |  |  | 20,000 |
Settlements made during the period |  |  | (8,893 | ) |  |  | (8,175 | )
Ending balance, December 31 |  | $ | 31,419 |  |  | $ | 40,312 |
The remainder of the Company’s warranty reserve represents amounts accrued for non-surface flaking claims.

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