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Commitments and Contingencies
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2022
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies Commitments and Contingencies
 
Legal Proceedings and Government Investigations
 
The Company is periodically involved in lawsuits, investigations and claims that arise in the ordinary course of business. The Company cannot predict with certainty the ultimate resolution of lawsuits, investigations and claims asserted against it. Except for possible losses from the matters described below, the Company does not believe that any currently pending or threatened legal proceeding to which the Company is or is likely to become a party will have a material adverse effect on its business, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition. The costs incurred by the Company to defend lawsuits, investigations and claims and amounts the Company pays to other parties because of these matters may be covered by insurance in some circumstances.

Litigation and Commercial Claims
 
The Company was contracted to perform inspections of welds on various pipeline projects in Texas for a customer. As of September 30, 2022, approximately $1.4 million of past due receivables were outstanding from this customer. The customer provided the Company with notice in December 2019, alleging that the Company’s inspection of 66 welds (out of approximately 16,000 welds inspected) were not in compliance with the contract, claimed approximately $7.6 million in damages, and requested that the Company pay these damages and any other damages incurred. The Company filed a lawsuit in the District Court of Bexar County, Texas, 37th Judicial District, in an action captioned Mistras Group, Inc. v. Epic Y-Grade Pipeline LP, to recover the $1.4 million and other amounts due to the Company. The customer filed a counterclaim, alleging breach of contract and seeking recovery of its alleged damages. The Company believes that any successful claim by the customer regarding the Company’s workmanship will be covered by insurance, subject to payment of a deductible. At this time, the Company is unable to determine whether it has any liability in connection with this matter and if so, the amount or range of any such liability. In the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company recorded a charge of $0.1 million for a potential loss from this matter. The Company recorded a reserve in the amount of $1.4 million during the twelve months ended December 31, 2019 for the past due receivables.
Two proceedings have been filed in California Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles regarding alleged violations of the California Labor Code. Both cases are captioned Justin Price v. Mistras Group, Inc., one being a purported class action lawsuit on behalf of current and former Mistras employees in California and the other was filed on behalf of the State of California under the California Private Attorney General Act on the basis of the same alleged violations. The two cases were consolidated and requested payment of all damages, including unpaid wages, and various fines and penalties available under California law. On May 4, 2021, the Company agreed to a settlement of all claims in the cases, which was more formally documented pursuant to a settlement agreement completed October 5, 2021, as amended as of May 3, 2022. Pursuant to the settlement, the Company agreed to pay $2.3 million to resolve the allegations in these proceedings and to be responsible for the employer portion of payroll taxes on the amount of the settlement allocated to wages. The settlement as agreed upon by the parties received final court approval on September 26, 2022, and the Company paid the settlement proceeds and related payroll taxes to the claims administrator in the fourth quarter of 2022. The Company recorded expense of approximately $1.6 million during the three months ended March 31, 2021 related to this settlement, which is in addition to expense of $0.8 million the Company recorded during the three months ended December 31, 2020.

Pension Related Contingencies

A subsidiary of the Company had a significant reduction in its unionized workers in 2018. The collective bargaining agreements for the employees of this subsidiary required contributions for these employees to two national multi-employer pension funds. The reduction in employees resulted in the subsidiary incurring a complete withdrawal to one of the pension funds under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"), which was fully satisfied in 2019. The Company has determined that the subsidiary is likely to incur partial or complete withdrawal liability to the other pension fund. The balance of the estimated total amount of this potential liability as of September 30, 2022 is approximately $2.5 million, which was incurred in 2018 and 2019.

Severance and labor disputes

During December 2019, the Company executed an agreement to sell the rights of certain customer "staff leasing" contracts related to its German subsidiary for total consideration of approximately $0.1 million, effective January 1, 2020. No other assets or liabilities other than those employee benefits related to employees working on the customer contracts were included in the sale. As of September 30, 2022, the Company has approximately $0.1 million of accrued estimated severance payment obligations, which takes into account the Company’s estimate with respect to the employees that have been or will be transitioned to the German subsidiaries' other customers. The $0.1 million of estimated obligations is net of $0.4 million in payments made and $1.0 million in reversals due to employees being transitioned to customer contracts.

The Company was entitled to indemnification on certain labor claims from the sellers of a company acquired by its Brazilian subsidiary. The Company and the sellers entered into a settlement agreement for approximately $1.0 million, which provided for payment in two installments, the first for approximately 31% of the settlement and the second for the remaining 69%. The first installment in the amount of approximately $0.3 million was paid by the sellers in December 2020 and the Company recognized that amount as a gain in selling, general and administrative expenses in the same period. The remaining payment for $0.6 million was received in the first quarter of 2021 and the Company recognized that amount as a gain in selling, general and administrative expenses in the same period.

Acquisition and disposition related contingencies
 
The Company is liable for contingent consideration in connection with certain of its acquisitions. As of September 30, 2022, total potential acquisition-related contingent consideration ranged from zero to approximately $1.9 million.

During 2018, the Company sold a subsidiary in the Products and Systems segment. As part of the sale, the Company entered into a three-year agreement to purchase products from the buyer, with a cumulative commitment of $2.3 million. On August 3, 2021, the Company entered into an agreement and extended the period by twelve months. As of September 30, 2022, the commitment was fully satisfied.