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Commitments and Contingencies
 3 Months Ended
Aug. 03, 2014
Commitments And Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies
16.
Commitments and Contingencies
 
Chromatex Environmental Claim

A lawsuit was filed against us and other defendants (Chromatex, Inc., Rossville Industries, Inc., Rossville Companies, Inc. and Rossville Investments, Inc.) on February 5, 2008 in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The plaintiffs are Alan Shulman, Stanley Siegel, Ruth Cherenson as Personal Representative of Estate of Alan Cherenson, and Adrienne Rolla and M.F. Rolla as Executors of the Estate of Joseph Byrnes. The plaintiffs were partners in a general partnership that formerly owned a manufacturing plant in West Hazleton, Pennsylvania (the “Site”). Approximately two years after this general partnership sold the Site to defendants Chromatex, Inc. and Rossville Industries, Inc., we leased and operated the Site as part of our Rossville/Chromatex division. The lawsuit involves court judgments that have been entered against the plaintiffs and against defendant Chromatex, Inc. requiring them to pay costs incurred by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“USEPA”) responding to environmental contamination at the Site, in amounts approximating $14 million, plus unspecified future environmental costs. Neither USEPA nor any other governmental authority has asserted any claim against us on account of these matters. The plaintiffs seek contribution from us and other defendants and a declaration that the company and the other defendants are responsible for environmental response costs under environmental laws and certain agreements. The plaintiffs also asserted that we tortiously interfered with contracts between them and other defendants in the case and diverted assets to prevent the plaintiffs from being paid monies owed to them. We have defended ourselves vigorously with regards to the matters described in this litigation. In addition, we have an indemnification agreement with certain other defendants in the litigation pursuant to which the other defendants agreed to indemnify us for any damages we incur as a result of the environmental matters that are the subject of this litigation, although it is unclear whether the indemnitors have significant assets at this time.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2014, the parties to this lawsuit reached a tentative settlement of all matters, which would require us to contribute cash to a global settlement fund. Consequently, we recorded a charge of $206,000 to other expense in the fiscal 2014 Consolidated Statement of Net Income. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, we paid the $206,000 tentative settlement amount. Subsequently, the settlement was reviewed by the government and during the first quarter of fiscal 2015 the court approved the final agreement by the parties involved. The lawsuit was dismissed on June 5, 2014.

Other Litigation

The company is involved in legal proceedings and claims which have arisen in the ordinary course of business. Management has determined that it is not reasonably possible that these actions, when ultimately concluded and settled, will have a material adverse effect upon the financial position, results of operations, or cash flows of the company.
 
Purchase Commitments
 
At August 3, 2014, July 28, 2013, and April 27, 2014, we had open purchase commitments to acquire equipment for our mattress fabrics segment totaling $3.5 million, $403,000 and $3.4 million, respectively.