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Accrued Insurance Claims
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011
Accrued Insurance Claims [Abstract]  
Accrued Insurance Claims

Note 15—Accrued Insurance Claims

We self-insure or carry a high deductible, and therefore retain a substantial portion of the risk associated with the expected losses under our general liability and workers' compensation programs. Under these programs, predetermined loss limits are arranged with our insurance company to limit both our per-occurrence cash outlay and annual insurance plan cost.

We regularly evaluate our claims' pay-out experience, present value factor and other factors related to the nature of specific claims in arriving at the basis for our accrued insurance claims' estimate. Our evaluation is based primarily on current information derived from reviewing our claims' experience and industry trends. In the event that our claims' experience and/or industry trends result in an unfavorable change, it would have an adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations and financial condition.

 

For workers' compensation, we record a reserve based on the present value of estimated future cost of claims and related expenses that have been reported but not settled including an estimate of claims incurred but not reported, that are developed as a result of a review of our historical data and open claims. The accrued insurance claims were reduced by approximately $1,105,000 and $1,147,000 at December 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively, in order to record the estimated present value at the end of each year using an 8% discount factor over the estimated remaining pay-out period (48 months).

For general liability, we record a reserve for the estimated amounts to be paid for known claims. The estimated ultimate reserve amount recorded is derived from the estimated claim reserves provided by our insurance carrier reduced by a historical experience factor.