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Legal and Other Contingencies | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 26, 2015
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Legal and Other Contingencies | Legal and Other Contingencies As of September 26, 2015 and December 31, 2014, the Company had recorded reserves for pending legal disputes, including commercial disputes and other matters, of $9.9 million and $11.9 million, respectively. Such reserves reflect amounts recognized in accordance with GAAP and typically exclude the cost of legal representation. Product liability and warranty reserves are recorded separately from legal reserves, as described below. Beginning on October 5, 2011, several plaintiffs filed putative class action complaints in several United States federal district courts against the Company and several other global suppliers of automotive wire harnesses alleging violations of federal and state antitrust and related laws. Plaintiffs purport to be direct and indirect purchasers of automotive wire harnesses supplied by the Company and/or the other defendants during the relevant period. The complaints allege that the defendants conspired to fix prices at which automotive wire harnesses were sold and that this had an anticompetitive effect upon interstate commerce in the United States. The complaints further allege that defendants fraudulently concealed their alleged conspiracy. The plaintiffs in these proceedings seek injunctive relief and recovery of an unspecified amount of damages, as well as costs and expenses relating to the proceedings, including attorneys' fees. On February 7, 2012, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation entered an order transferring and coordinating the various civil actions (the "Consolidated Cases"), for pretrial purposes, into one proceeding in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (the "District Court"). In order to avoid the costs and distraction of continuing to litigate the Consolidated Cases, the Company entered into settlement agreements with the plaintiffs in the Consolidated Cases on May 5, 2014 (the "Settlement Agreements"), under which the class plaintiffs in the Consolidated Cases will release the Company from all claims, demands, actions, suits and causes of action. The Settlement Agreements contain no admission by the Company of any wrongdoing, and the Company maintains that it violated no laws in connection with these matters. Because the conduct alleged by the class plaintiffs overwhelmingly relates to periods prior to the Company’s emergence from bankruptcy proceedings in 2009, the Settlement Agreements provide that the aggregate settlement amount of $8.75 million will consist of $370,263 in cash contributed by the Company with the remainder paid in outstanding common stock and warrants of the Company held in the bankruptcy reserve established under the Company’s plan of reorganization. The Settlement Agreements were approved by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on May 27, 2014, and preliminarily approved, on the record in open court, by the District Court on July 1, 2014. The Settlement Agreement between the Company and the class of direct purchasers received the final approval of the District Court on December 3, 2014. The Settlement Agreements between the Company and the classes of indirect purchasers remain subject to the final approval of the District Court, which will be decided following the provision of notice to purported class members and hearings, with respect to each class, to confirm the fairness of the settlement. Commercial Disputes The Company is involved from time to time in legal proceedings and claims, including, without limitation, commercial or contractual disputes with its customers, suppliers and competitors. These disputes vary in nature and are usually resolved by negotiations between the parties. Product Liability and Warranty Matters In the event that use of the Company’s products results in, or is alleged to result in, bodily injury and/or property damage or other losses, the Company may be subject to product liability lawsuits and other claims. Such lawsuits generally seek compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorneys’ fees and costs. In addition, if any of the Company’s products are, or are alleged to be, defective, the Company may be required or requested by its customers to participate in a recall or other corrective action involving such products. Certain of the Company’s customers have asserted claims against the Company for costs related to recalls or other corrective actions involving its products. The Company can provide no assurances that it will not experience material claims in the future or that it will not incur significant costs to defend such claims. To a lesser extent, the Company is a party to agreements with certain of its customers, whereby these customers may pursue claims against the Company for contribution of all or a portion of the amounts sought in connection with product liability and warranty claims. In certain instances, allegedly defective products may be supplied by Tier 2 suppliers. The Company may seek recovery from its suppliers of materials or services included within the Company’s products that are associated with product liability and warranty claims. The Company carries insurance for certain legal matters, including product liability claims, but such coverage may be limited. The Company does not maintain insurance for product warranty or recall matters. Future dispositions with respect to the Company’s product liability claims that were subject to compromise under the Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings will be satisfied out of a common stock and warrant reserve established for that purpose. The Company records product warranty reserves when liability is probable and related amounts are reasonably estimable. A summary of the changes in reserves for product liability and warranty claims for the nine months ended September 26, 2015, is shown below (in millions):
Balance at January 1, 2015 | $ | 28.9 |
Expense, net (including changes in estimates) | 4.8 |
Settlements | (6.7 | )
Foreign currency translation and other | (0.8 | )
Balance at September 26, 2015 | $ | 26.2 |
Environmental Matters The Company is subject to local, state, federal and foreign laws, regulations and ordinances which govern activities or operations that may have adverse environmental effects and which impose liability for clean-up costs resulting from past spills, disposals or other releases of hazardous wastes and environmental compliance. The Company’s policy is to comply with all applicable environmental laws and to maintain an environmental management program based on ISO 14001 to ensure compliance with this standard. However, the Company currently is, has been and in the future may become the subject of formal or informal enforcement actions or procedures. The Company has been named as a potentially responsible party at several third-party landfill sites and is engaged in the cleanup of hazardous waste at certain sites owned, leased or operated by the Company, including several properties acquired in its 1999 acquisition of UT Automotive, Inc. ("UT Automotive"). Certain present and former properties of UT Automotive are subject to environmental liabilities that may be significant. The Company obtained agreements and indemnities with respect to certain environmental liabilities from United Technologies Corporation ("UTC") in connection with the Company’s acquisition of UT Automotive. UTC manages and directly funds these environmental liabilities pursuant to its agreements and indemnities with the Company. As of September 26, 2015 and December 31, 2014, the Company had recorded environmental reserves of $9.1 million and $4.8 million, respectively. The Company does not believe that the environmental liabilities associated with its current and former properties will have a material adverse impact on its business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows; however, no assurances can be given in this regard. Other Matters The Company is involved from time to time in various other legal proceedings and claims, including, without limitation, intellectual property matters, tax claims and employment matters. Although the outcome of any legal matter cannot be predicted with certainty, the Company does not believe that any of the other legal proceedings or claims in which the Company is currently involved, either individually or in the aggregate, will have a material adverse impact on its business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. However, no assurances can be given in this regard. Although the Company records reserves for legal disputes, product liability and warranty claims and environmental and other matters in accordance with GAAP, the ultimate outcomes of these matters are inherently uncertain. Actual results may differ significantly from current estimates.

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