Note 15—Other income, net:


	Years ended December 31,
	2009			2010			2011
	(In millions)
Securities earnings:
Dividends and interest	$	26.3		$	26.0		$	29.2
Securities transactions, net		.5			.3			(.6	)

Total		26.8			26.3			28.6
Equity in joint venture earnings		(1.1	)		(.4	)		(.5	)
Insurance recoveries		4.6			18.8			16.9
Currency transactions, net		9.7			7.4			3.4
Disposal of property and equipment, net		(1.2	)		(1.8	)		(.9	)
Patent litigation settlement gain		—			—			7.5
Litigation settlement gains		23.1			6.3			—
Gain on sale of business		6.3			—			—
Other, net		1.5			1.9			1.9

Total	$	69.7		$	58.5		$	56.9

Dividends and interest income includes distributions from The Amalgamated Sugar Company LLC of $25.4 million in each of 2009, 2010 and 2011. See Note 4.

Insurance recoveries in 2009 relate to amounts NL received from certain of its former insurance carriers, and relate principally to the recovery of prior lead pigment and asbestos litigation defense costs incurred by us. We have agreements with two former insurance carriers pursuant to which the carriers reimburse us for a portion of our future lead pigment litigation defense costs, and one such carrier reimburses us for a portion of our future asbestos litigation defense costs. We are not able to determine how much we will ultimately recover from these carriers for defense costs incurred by us because of certain issues that arise regarding which defense costs qualify for reimbursement. In September 2011 we reached a settlement with one of our former insurance carriers in which they agreed to reimburse NL for a portion of its past lead pigment litigation defense costs. Substantially all of the insurance recoveries we recognized in 2011 relates to this settlement. In addition, a substantial portion of the insurance recoveries we recognized in 2010 relates to the NL litigation settlement discussed in Note 17.

While we continue to seek additional insurance recoveries for lead pigment and asbestos litigation matters, we do not know the extent to which we will be successful in obtaining additional reimbursement for either defense costs or indemnity. Any additional insurance recoveries would be recognized when the receipt is probable and the amount is determinable. See Note 17.

The gain on the CompX patent litigation settlement was recognized in the first quarter of 2011 and is discussed in Note 17.

In 2005, certain real property NL owned that is subject to environmental remediation was taken from us in a condemnation proceeding by a governmental authority in New Jersey. The condemnation proceeds, the adequacy of which we disputed, were placed into escrow with a court in New Jersey. Because the funds were in escrow with the court and were beyond our control, we never gave recognition to such condemnation proceeds for financial reporting purposes. In October 2008 we reached a definitive settlement agreement with such governmental authority and a real estate developer, among others, pursuant to which, among other things, we would receive certain agreed-upon amounts in satisfaction of our claim to just compensation for the taking of our property in the condemnation proceeding at three separate closings, and we would be indemnified against certain environmental liabilities related to such property, in exchange for the release of our equitable lien on specified portions of the property at each closing. At the initial October 2008 closing, we received cash plus a promissory note in the amount of $15.0 million in exchange for the release of our equitable lien on a portion of the property. The $15.0 million promissory note bore interest at LIBOR plus 2.75%, with interest payable monthly and all principal due no later than October 2011. In October 2011, we collected the full $15.0 million due to us. In April 2009, the second closing was completed, pursuant to which we received an aggregate of $11.8 million in cash. The agreement calls for a third and final closing that is subject to, among other things, our receipt of an additional payment. The timing of when the final closing will occur is presently not determinable.

For financial reporting purposes, we have accounted for the aggregate consideration received in the 2009 closing of the reinstated settlement agreement by the full accrual method of accounting for real estate sales (since the settlement agreement arose out of a dispute concerning the adequacy of the condemnation proceeds for our former real property in New Jersey). Under this method, we recognized a pre-tax gain in the second quarter of 2009 of approximately $11.1 million. Similarly, the cash consideration NL received at the closings is reflected as an investing activity in our Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows. Our carrying value of the remaining portion of this property, attributable to the portion of the property from which our equitable lien would be released in the third closing, was approximately $.7 million at December 31, 2011.

Litigation settlement gains of $6.3 million, consist of $4.0 million related to an additional recovery of past environmental remediation and related legal costs and $2.3 million related to a reduction in our accrued environmental remediation and legal settlement costs resulting from another potentially responsible party's agreement to indemnify us. We continue to monitor sites for which such potentially responsible party is obligated to indemnify us.

We provided certain research, laboratory and quality control services within and outside the sweetener industry for The Amalgamated Sugar Company LLC and others. In January 2009, we sold our research, laboratory and quality control business to the LLC for an aggregate sales price of $7.5 million, consisting of $6.7 million in cash paid at closing, $500,000 paid in February 2010 and $250,000 paid in February 2011. The amounts owed to us in 2010 and 2011 did not bear interest, and we recognized these amounts at their aggregate net present value of approximately $.7 million. We recognized a pre-tax gain of $6.3 million from the sale of this business. The revenues, pre-tax income and total assets of the operations sold are not material in any period presented.