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Note 16 - Contingencies | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 28, 2019
Notes to Financial Statements |
Contingencies Disclosure [Text Block] |
16. | Contingencies
From time to time, the Company is a defendant or plaintiff in various legal actions that arise in the normal course of business. As such, the Company is required to assess the likelihood of any adverse outcomes to these matters as well as potential ranges of losses and possible recoveries. The Company may not be covered by insurance as it pertains to some or all of these matters. A determination of the amount of the provision required for these commitments and contingencies, if any, which would be charged to earnings, is made after careful analysis of each matter. Once established, a provision may change in the future due to new developments or changes in circumstances and could increase or decrease the Company’s earnings in the period that the changes are made. Asserted claims in these matters sought approximately $10.3 million in damages (as further described below) as of September 28, 2019. As of September 28, 2019, the Company did not have an accrual for any such liabilities. The Company has a dispute with a customer that is a major utility in the United States. Both parties agreed in fiscal 2017 to resolve this dispute through binding arbitration. Arbitration hearings with this customer started in fiscal 2018. Essentially, the customer has not paid the balance of accounts receivable the Company believes are owed for certain disputed projects. As of September 28, 2019 and December 29, 2018, the total amount of outstanding receivables from this customer on these disputed projects was $12.2 million and $8.9 million, respectively, subject to potential upward adjustment in damages claimed in arbitration. Additionally, as part of the arbitration process, the customer has asserted counter-claims. While the total amount of asserted counter-claims is unknown as of September 28, 2019, the total amount of such counter-claims is anticipated to be at least $10.3 million. The Company believes these counter-claims are retaliatory in nature. Prior to the Company asserting its claims, the customer had not asserted any counter-claims. The Company believes these counter-claims asserted by its customer have no merit and were merely asserted as a strategy to reduce the Company’s own claims in any arbitration award or potential settlement agreement. The Company believes that its accounts receivable balance, subject to reserves, is fully collectible. Furthermore, the Company believes that this arbitration will conclude prior to reporting its fiscal 2019 financial results. While the Company believes the customer’s counter-claims to be frivolous and without merit, it can give no assurances that it will ultimately not have to pay all or a portion of such counter-claims. The Company is continuing work on one of the engagements that have given rise to this dispute and also on several engagements from the same client that are not currently part of the arbitration. The Company is also subject to other pending legal proceedings and claims that arise from time to time in the ordinary course of its business, which may not be covered by insurance.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for loss and gain contingencies. Describes any existing condition, situation, or set of circumstances involving uncertainty as of the balance sheet date (or prior to issuance of the financial statements) as to a probable or reasonably possible loss incurred by an entity that will ultimately be resolved when one or more future events occur or fail to occur, and typically discloses the amount of loss recorded or a range of possible loss, or an assertion that no reasonable estimate can be made. + References Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 450 -SubTopic 30 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/subtopic&trid=2127197 Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 450 -SubTopic 20 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/subtopic&trid=2127163 + Details
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