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Litigation And Contingencies | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2016
Litigation And Contingencies [Abstract] |
Litigation And Contingencies | Litigation and Contingencies The Company is involved in legal proceedings in the ordinary course of its business. These proceedings include claims for damages arising out of use of the Company’s products, allegations of infringement of intellectual property, commercial disputes and employment matters, as well as environmental matters. Some of the legal proceedings include claims for punitive as well as compensatory damages, and certain proceedings may purport to be class actions. The Company, using current product sales data and historical trends, actuarially calculates the estimate of its exposure for product liability. The Company had product liability reserves of $81.7 million and $41.2 million as of December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively. The Company is insured for product liability claims for amounts in excess of established deductibles and accrues for the estimated liability as described up to the limits of the deductibles. All other claims and lawsuits are handled on a case-by-case basis. The Company recognizes warranty costs based on an estimate of amounts required to meet future warranty obligations arising as part of the sale of its products. The Company accrues an estimated liability at the time of a product sale based on historical claim rates applied to current period sales, as well as any information applicable to current product sales that may indicate a deviation from such historical claim rate trends. Recall of Harness Buckles on Select Car Seats In February 2014, Graco, a subsidiary of the Company, announced a voluntary recall in the U.S. of harness buckles used on approximately 4 million toddler car seats manufactured between 2006 and 2013. In July 2014, Graco announced that it had agreed to expand the recall to include certain infant car seats manufactured between July 2010 and May 2013. There have been no reported injuries associated with the recalled harness buckles used on these toddler or infant car seats. In December 2014, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (the “NHTSA”) announced an investigation into the timeliness of the recall, and in March 2015, the investigation concluded with Graco entering into a consent order with NHTSA pursuant to which Graco committed to spend $7.0 million in total over a five-year period to enhance child passenger safety and make a $3.0 million payment to NHTSA, which was paid in the year ended December 31, 2015. With respect to the $7.0 million required to be spent over five years, the Company has spent approximately $2.1 million to date. The Company recorded the $10.0 million of costs associated with the consent order in the first quarter of 2015. Legal Matters A class action lawsuit, Hirsch v. Lillie, et al., was filed on February 24, 2016 on behalf of Jarden shareholders in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleging violations of Section 14(a) of the Exchange Act in respect of the Registration/Proxy Statement on Form S-4 relating to the Jarden Acquisition. The suit named each of the Jarden directors as defendants, as well as the Company. No individual directors or officers of the Company were named as defendants. The parties entered into a settlement term sheet, pursuant to which the Company added certain disclosures to the Form S-4. Counsel for the shareholders filed in July 2016, but then withdrew in August 2016, a motion to approve the settlement. In October 2016, the Company and its relevant subsidiaries were voluntarily dismissed from the case. In December 2016, the parties (including the Company) entered into a new settlement whereby the lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed. A second class action lawsuit, Paree v. Franklin, et al., was filed in the State Circuit Court in Palm Beach County, Florida on March 10, 2016, purportedly on behalf of Jarden stockholders, against the directors of Jarden. The Company was also named as a defendant. Plaintiff alleged that defendants breached their fiduciary duties to Jarden stockholders in connection with the Jarden Acquisition by, among other things, failing to take reasonable steps to obtain and/or ensure that Jarden stockholders receive fair and adequate value for their shares, and that the Company aided and abetted such breaches. Plaintiff further alleged that defendants provided materially false and misleading disclosures and omitted necessary information in their joint proxy statement/prospectus concerning the sales process of Jarden. The complaint sought rescission or rescissory damages with respect to the merger transactions, an award of attorneys’ and experts’ fees and costs, and a direction from the court that Jarden’s individual board members account for all damages suffered as a result of their alleged wrongdoing. On March 28, 2016, the parties filed an Agreed Joint Motion to Stay Proceedings, seeking a stay of the litigation, pending the outcome of the Hirsch v. Lillie action. In December 2016, the parties (including the Company) entered into a settlement whereby the lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed. Jarden Acquisition Under the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”), any Jarden stockholder who did not vote in favor of adoption of the Merger Agreement, and otherwise complies with the provisions of Section 262 of the DGCL, is entitled to seek an appraisal of its shares of Jarden common stock by the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as provided under Section 262 of the DGCL. As of December 31, 2016, dissenting stockholders collectively holding approximately 10.6 million shares of Jarden common stock have delivered (and not withdrawn) to Jarden written demands for appraisal. Two separate appraisal petitions, styled Dunham Monthly Distribution Fund v. Jarden Corporation, Case No. 12454-VCS (Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware) and Merion Capital LP v. Jarden Corporation, Case No. 12456-VCS (Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware), respectively, were filed on June 14, 2016 by a total of ten purported Jarden stockholders seeking an appraisal of the fair value of their shares of Jarden common stock pursuant to Section 262 of the DGCL. A third appraisal petition (Fir Tree Value Master Fund, LP v. Jarden Corporation, Case No. 12546-VCS (Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware)) was filed on July 8, 2016 by two purported Jarden stockholders seeking an appraisal of the fair value of their shares of Jarden common stock pursuant to Section 262 of the DGCL. A fourth appraisal petition (Veritian Partners Master Fund LTP v. Jarden Corporation, Case No. 12650-VCS (Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware)) was filed on August 12, 2016 by two purported Jarden stockholders seeking an appraisal of the fair value of their shares of Jarden common stock pursuant to Section 262 of the DGCL. These cases remain pending, and litigation is ongoing. The fair value of the 10.6 million Jarden common shares held by these dissenting stockholders, as determined by the court, would be payable in cash and could be lower or higher than the merger consideration and/or may include a greater amount of cash than the merger consideration to which such Jarden stockholders would have been entitled under the Merger Agreement. Environmental Matters The Company is involved in various matters concerning federal and state environmental laws and regulations, including matters in which the Company has been identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“U.S. EPA”) and certain state environmental agencies as a potentially responsible party (“PRP”) at contaminated sites under the Federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (the “CERCLA”) and equivalent state laws. In assessing its environmental response costs, the Company has considered several factors, including the extent of the Company’s volumetric contribution at each site relative to that of other PRPs; the kind of waste; the terms of existing cost sharing and other applicable agreements; the financial ability of other PRPs to share in the payment of requisite costs; the Company’s prior experience with similar sites; environmental studies and cost estimates available to the Company; the effects of inflation on cost estimates; and the extent to which the Company’s, and other parties’, status as PRPs is disputed. The Company’s estimate of environmental remediation costs associated with these matters as of December 31, 2016 was $41.9 million, which is included in other accrued liabilities and other noncurrent liabilities in the Consolidated Balance Sheet. No insurance recovery was taken into account in determining the Company’s cost estimates or reserves, nor do the Company’s cost estimates or reserves reflect any discounting for present value purposes, except with respect to certain long-term operations and maintenance CERCLA matters. Lower Passaic River Matter U.S. EPA has issued General Notice Letters (“GNLs”) to over 100 entities, including the Company and Berol Corporation, a subsidiary of the Company (“Berol”), alleging that they are PRPs at the Diamond Alkali Superfund Site, which includes a 17-mile stretch of the Lower Passaic River and its tributaries. Seventy-two of the GNL recipients, including the Company on behalf of itself and its subsidiaries, Goody Products, Inc. and Berol (the “Company Parties”), have taken over the performance of the remedial investigation (“RI”) and feasibility study (“FS”) for the Lower Passaic River. On April 11, 2014, while work on the RI/FS remained underway, U.S. EPA issued a Source Control Early Action Focused Feasibility Study (“FFS”), which proposed four alternatives for remediation of the lower 8.3 miles of the Lower Passaic River. U.S. EPA’s cost estimates for its cleanup alternatives ranged from $315.0 million to approximately $3.2 billion in capital costs plus from $0.5 million to $1.8 million in annual maintenance costs for 30 years, with its preferred alternative carrying an estimated cost of approximately $1.7 billion plus an additional $1.6 million in annual maintenance costs for 30 years. In February 2015, the participating parties submitted to the U.S. EPA a draft RI, followed by submission of a draft FS in April 2015. The draft FS sets forth various alternatives for remediating the lower 17 miles of the Passaic River, ranging from a “no action” alternative, to targeted remediation of locations along the entire lower 17 mile stretch of the river, to remedial actions consistent with U.S. EPA’s preferred alternative as set forth in the FFS for the lower 8.3 miles coupled with monitored natural recovery and targeted remediation in the upper 9 miles. The estimated cost estimates for these alternatives range from approximately $28.0 million to $2.7 billion, including related operation maintenance and monitoring costs. The draft RI/FS remains under review by U.S. EPA. U.S. EPA issued its final Record of Decision for the lower 8.3 miles of the Lower Passaic (the “ROD”) in March 2016, which, in the language of the document, finalizes as the selected remedy the preferred alternative set forth in the FFS, which U.S. EPA estimates will cost $1.4 billion. Subsequent to the release of the ROD in March 2016, U.S. EPA issued GNLs for the lower 8.3 miles of the Passaic River (the “2016 GNL”) to numerous entities, apparently including all previous recipients of the initial GNL as well as several additional entities. As with the initial GNL, the Company and Berol were among the recipients of the 2016 GNL. The 2016 GNL states that U.S. EPA would like to determine whether one entity, Occidental Chemical Corporation (“OCC”), will voluntarily perform the remedial design for the selected remedy for the lower 8.3 miles, and that following execution of an agreement for the remedial design, U.S. EPA plans to begin negotiation of a remedial action consent decree “under which OCC and the other major PRPs will implement and/or pay for U.S. EPA’s selected remedy for the lower 8.3 miles of the Lower Passaic River and reimburse U.S. EPA’s costs incurred for the Lower Passaic River.” The letter “encourage[s] the major PRPs to meet and discuss a workable approach to sharing responsibility for implementation and funding of the remedy" without indicating who may be the “major PRPs.” Finally, U.S. EPA states that it “believes that some of the parties that have been identified as PRPs under CERCLA, and some parties not yet named as PRPs, may be eligible for a cash out settlement with U.S. EPA for the lower 8.3 miles of the Lower Passaic River. U.S. EPA intends to provide separate notice of the opportunity to discuss a cash out settlement at a later date.” In September 2016, OCC and EPA entered into an Administrative Order on Consent for performance of the remedial design. At this time, it is unclear how the cost of any cleanup would be allocated among any of the parties, including the Company Parties or any other entities. The site is also subject to a Natural Resource Damage Assessment. OCC has asserted that it is entitled to indemnification by Maxus Energy Corporation (“Maxus”) for its liability in connection with the Diamond Alkali Superfund Site. OCC has also asserted that Maxus’s parent company, YPF, S.A., and certain other affiliates (the “YPF Entities”) similarly must indemnify OCC, including on an “alter ego” theory. On June 17, 2016, Maxus and certain of its affiliates commenced a chapter 11 bankruptcy case in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. In connection with that proceeding, the YPF Entities are attempting to resolve any liability they may have to Maxus and the other Maxus entities undergoing the chapter 11 bankruptcy. Given the uncertainties pertaining to this matter, including that U.S. EPA is still reviewing the draft RI and FS, that no framework for or agreement on allocation for the investigation and ultimate remediation has been developed, and that there exists the potential for further litigation regarding costs and cost sharing, the extent to which the Company Parties may be held liable or responsible is not yet known. Accordingly, it is not possible at this time for the Company to estimate its ultimate liability related to this matter. Based on currently known facts and circumstances, the Company does not believe that this matter is reasonably likely to have a material impact on the Company’s results of operations, including, among other factors, because the Company Parties’ facilities are not even alleged to have discharged the contaminants which are of the greatest concern in the river sediments, and because there are numerous other parties who will likely share in any costs of remediation and/or damages. However, in the event of one or more adverse determinations related to this matter, it is possible that the ultimate liability resulting from this matter and the impact on the Company’s results of operations could be material. Because of the uncertainties associated with environmental investigations and response activities, the possibility that the Company could be identified as a PRP at sites identified in the future that require the incurrence of environmental response costs and the possibility that sites acquired in business combinations may require environmental response costs, actual costs to be incurred by the Company may vary from the Company’s estimates. Clean Air Act Labeling Matter In April 2015, the Company became aware that two beverage container products, one product of its recently acquired bubba brands business and one product of its recently acquired Ignite business, contained closed cell rigid polyurethane foam insulation that was blown with HCFC-141b, which is listed as a Class II ozone-depleting substance under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. Under the Clean Air Act and U.S. EPA’s regulations promulgated thereunder, as of January 1, 2015, certain products made with or containing ozone depleting substances, including HCFC-141b, must bear a specific warning label. The Company discovered that the affected products imported in early 2015 did not display the required label. While the affected product lines were not compliant with applicable environmental regulations regarding ozone depleting substances, use of the products is safe and poses no risk to consumers. Upon discovery, the Company self-reported the violations to the U.S. EPA and replaced the blowing agent in the products. The Company is in the process of negotiating a settlement with U.S. EPA which would include payment of a penalty; although settlement negotiations are at an early stage, the Company does not expect that the penalty will exceed $110,000. Other Matters Although management of the Company cannot predict the ultimate outcome of these proceedings with certainty, it believes that the ultimate resolution of the Company’s proceedings, including any amounts it may be required to pay in excess of amounts reserved, will not have a material effect on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements, except as otherwise described above. In the normal course of business and as part of its acquisition and divestiture strategy, the Company may provide certain representations and indemnifications related to legal, environmental, product liability, tax or other types of issues. Based on the nature of these representations and indemnifications, it is not possible to predict the maximum potential payments under all of these agreements due to the conditional nature of the Company’s obligations and the unique facts and circumstances involved in each particular agreement. Historically, payments made by the Company under these agreements did not have a material effect on the Company’s business, financial condition or results of operations. As of December 31, 2016, the Company had $80.0 million in standby letters of credit primarily related to the Company’s self-insurance programs, including workers’ compensation, product liability and medical.

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