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Commitments and Contingent Liabilities | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2023
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingent Liabilities | Commitments and Contingent Liabilities Product Liability Claims The Company is subject to product warranty claims that arise in the ordinary course of its business. For certain manufactured products, the Company maintains a product warranty accrual, which is adjusted on a monthly basis as a percentage of cost of sales. In addition, the product warranty accrual is adjusted periodically based on the identification or resolution of known individual product warranty claims. Union Pacific Railroad (“UPRR”) Concrete Tie Matter On March 13, 2019, the Company and its subsidiary, CXT Incorporated (“CXT”), entered into a Settlement Agreement (the “Settlement Agreement”) with UPRR to resolve the pending litigation in the matter of Union Pacific Railroad Company v. L.B. Foster Company and CXT Incorporated, Case No. CI 15-564, in the District Court for Douglas County, Nebraska. Under the Settlement Agreement, the Company and CXT will pay UPRR the aggregate amount of $50,000 without pre-judgment interest, which began with a $2,000 immediate payment, and with the remaining $48,000 paid in installments over a six-year period commencing on the effective date of the Settlement Agreement through December 2024 pursuant to a Promissory Note. Additionally, commencing in January 2019 and through December 2024, UPRR agreed to purchase and has been purchasing from the Company and its subsidiaries and affiliates, a cumulative total amount of $48,000 of products and services, targeting $8,000 of annual purchases per year beginning March 13, 2019 per letters of intent under the Settlement Agreement. During the third quarter of 2021, in connection with the Company’s divestiture of its Piling Products division, the targeted annual purchases per year have been reduced to $6,000 for 2021 through 2024. The Settlement Agreement also includes a mutual release of all claims and liability regarding or relating to all CXT pre-stressed concrete railroad ties with no admission of liability and dismissal of the litigation with prejudice. The expected payments under the UPRR Settlement Agreement for the remainder of the year ending December 31, 2023 and thereafter are as follows:
Year Ending December 31, |  |
Remainder of 2023 |  | $ | 8,000 |
2024 |  | 8,000 |
Total |  | $ | 16,000 |
Environmental and Legal Proceedings The Company is subject to national, state, foreign, provincial, and/or local laws and regulations relating to the protection of the environment. The Company’s efforts to comply with environmental regulations may have an adverse effect on its future earnings. On June 5, 2017, a General Notice Letter was received from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) indicating that the Company may be a potentially responsible party (“PRP”) regarding the Portland Harbor Superfund Site cleanup along with numerous other companies. More than 140 other companies received such a notice. The Company and a predecessor owned and operated a facility near the harbor site for a period prior to 1982. The net present value and undiscounted costs of the selected remedy throughout the harbor site are estimated by the EPA to be approximately $1.1 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively, and the remedial work is expected to take as long as 13 years to complete. These costs may increase given that the remedy will not be initiated or completed for several years. The Company is reviewing the basis for its identification by the EPA and the nature of the historic operations of a Company predecessor near the site. Additionally, the Company executed a PRP agreement which provides for a private allocation process among almost 100 PRPs in a working group whose work is ongoing and involves a process that will ultimately conclude a proposed allocation of liability for cleanup of the site and various sub-areas. The Company does not have any individual risk sharing agreements in place with respect to the site, and was only associated with the site from 1976 to when it purchased the stock of a company whose assets it sold in 1982 and which was dissolved in 1994. On March 26, 2020, the EPA issued a Unilateral Administrative Order to two parties requiring them to perform remedial design work for that portion of the Harbor Superfund Site that includes the area closest to the facility; the Company was not a recipient of this Unilateral Administrative Order. The Company cannot predict the ultimate impact of these proceedings because of the large number of PRPs involved throughout the harbor site, the size and extent of the site, the degree of contamination of various wastes, varying environmental impacts throughout the harbor site, the scarcity of data related to the facility once operated by the Company and a predecessor, potential comparative liability between the allocation parties and regarding non-participants, and the speculative nature of the remediation costs. Based upon information currently available, management does not believe that the Company’s alleged PRP status regarding the Portland Harbor Superfund Site or other compliance with the present environmental protection laws will have a material adverse effect on the financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, competitive position, or capital expenditures of the Company. As more information develops and the allocation process is completed, and given the resolution of factors like those described above, an unfavorable resolution could have a material adverse effect. As of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, the Company maintained environmental reserves approximating $2,448 and $2,472, respectively. The Company is also subject to other legal proceedings and claims that arise in the ordinary course of its business. Legal actions are subject to inherent uncertainties, and future events could change management’s assessment of the probability or estimated amount of potential losses from pending or threatened legal actions. Based on available information, it is the opinion of management that the ultimate resolution of pending or threatened legal actions, both individually and in the aggregate, will not result in losses having a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial position or liquidity as of March 31, 2023. If management believes that, based on available information, it is at least reasonably possible that a material loss (or additional material loss in excess of any accrual) will be incurred in connection with any legal actions, the Company discloses an estimate of the possible loss or range of loss, either individually or in the aggregate, as appropriate, if such an estimate can be made, or discloses that an estimate cannot be made. Based on the Company’s assessment as of March 31, 2023, no such disclosures were considered necessary.

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