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Contingent and Other Liabilities
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2024
Contingent Liabilities [Abstract]  
Contingent and Other Liabilities
Note 4 - Contingent and Other Liabilities
The Company can be party to a variety of pending legal proceedings and claims arising in the normal course of business, including, but not limited to, litigation relating to employment, workers’ compensation, product liability, environmental and intellectual property. The Company has liability insurance to cover many of these claims.
Although the outcomes of these matters are not predictable with certainty, the Company records a liability when it is both probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. In the event the Company determines that a loss is not probable, but is reasonably possible, and the likelihood to develop what the Company believes to be a reasonable range of potential loss exists, the Company will include disclosure related to such matters. To the extent that there is a reasonable possibility the losses could exceed amounts already accrued, the Company will adjust the accrual in the period in which the determination is made, disclose an estimate of the additional loss or range of loss and if the amount of such adjustment cannot be reasonably estimated, disclose that an estimate cannot be made.
In November 2016, the Company and its subsidiaries Helix Uniformed Ltd. (“Helix”) and Preformed Line Products (Canada) Limited (“PLPC Canada”), were each named, jointly and severally, with each of SNC-Lavalin ATP, Inc. (“SNC ATP”), HD Supply Canada Inc., by its trade names HD Supply Power Solutions and HD Supply Utilities (“HD Supply”), and Anixter Power Solutions Canada Inc. (the corporate successor to HD Supply, “Anixter”) and, together with the Company, PLPC Canada, Helix, SNC ATP and HD Supply (the “Defendants”), in a complaint filed by Altalink, L.P. (the “Plaintiff”) in the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta in Alberta, Canada in November 2016 (the “Complaint”).
The Complaint stated that the Plaintiff engaged SNC ATP to design, engineer, procure and construct numerous power distribution and transmission facilities in Alberta (the “Projects”) and that through SNC ATP and HD Supply (now Anixter), spacer dampers manufactured by Helix were procured and installed in the Projects. The Complaint alleged that the spacer dampers have and may continue to become loose, open and detach from the conductors, resulting in damage and potential injury and a failure to perform the intended function of providing spacing and damping to the Projects. The Plaintiff was seeking damages jointly and severally from the Defendants representing the costs of monitoring and replacing the spacer dampers and remediating property damage, due to alleged defects in the design and construction of, and supply of materials for, the Projects by SNC ATP and HD Supply/Anixter and in the design of the spacer dampers by Helix.
On September 26, 2023, the Defendants and the Plaintiff entered into a settlement agreement which dismissed the action against all Defendants with prejudice. Net of insurance, the total settlement amount required to be paid by the Company in the fourth quarter of 2023 was $4.3 million Canadian dollars ($3.2 million US dollars). The settlement reflects the Company’s desire to eliminate the burden, expense, distraction and further uncertainties of litigation, and settlement does not constitute an admission of liability, wrongdoing or fault by the Company and its subsidiaries.
The Company is not a party to any other pending legal proceedings that the Company believes would, individually or in the aggregate, have a material adverse effect on its financial condition, results of operations or cash flow. For the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, there were no reserves for known global legal matters.
For the year ended December 31, 2024, the Company included $6.7 million of advanced payments by customers for future projects in Accrued expenses and other liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheet.