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Investigations, Claims and Litigation (Unaudited)
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2023
Disclosure Text Block Supplement [Abstract]  
INVESTIGATIONS, CLAIMS AND LITIGATION INVESTIGATIONS, CLAIMS AND LITIGATION
The company is engaged in remediation activities relating to environmental conditions allegedly resulting from historic operations at the former United States Navy and Grumman facilities in Bethpage, New York. For over 20 years, the company has worked closely with the United States Navy, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), the New York State Department of Health and other federal, state and local governmental authorities, to address legacy environmental conditions in Bethpage. In December 2019, the State of New York issued an Amended Record of Decision seeking to impose additional remedial requirements beyond measures the company previously had been taking. In December 2020, the parties reached a tentative agreement regarding the steps the company would take to implement the State’s Amended Record of Decision and to resolve certain potential other claims, including for natural resource damages. On September 22, 2021, the State of New York issued for public comment a new consent decree reflecting the agreement. On December 7, 2021, the public comment period closed. On August 3, 2022, the court approved the consent decree. We have also reached agreements with the Department of Defense and the Bethpage and South Farmingdale Water Districts to resolve claims involving these parties. Those agreements have also been approved by the courts as necessary. The company continues to be involved in related disputes with the Towns of Oyster Bay and Hempstead.
We have incurred, and expect to continue to incur, as included in Note 6, substantial remediation costs related to the legacy Bethpage environmental conditions. It is also possible that applicable remediation standards and other requirements to which we are subject may continue to change, and that our costs may increase materially. In addition to disputes and legal proceedings related to environmental conditions and remediation at the site, we are a party to various individual lawsuits and a putative class action alleging personal injury and property damage in the Eastern District of New York. The filed individual lawsuits have been stayed, pending a court decision on class certification. We are also a party, and may become a party, to other lawsuits brought by or against insurance carriers, and by other individual plaintiffs and/or putative classes, as well as other parties. We cannot at this time predict or reasonably estimate the potential cumulative outcomes or ranges of possible liability of these Bethpage lawsuits.
In June 2018, the FTC issued a Decision and Order enabling the company’s acquisition of OATK to proceed and providing generally for the company to continue to make solid rocket motors available to competing missile primes on a non-discriminatory basis. The company has taken and continues to take robust actions to help ensure compliance with the terms of the Order. Similarly, the Compliance Officer, appointed under the Order, and the FTC have taken and continue to take various actions to oversee compliance. In October 2019, the company received a
civil investigative demand (CID) from the FTC requesting certain information relating to a potential issue regarding the company’s compliance with the Order in connection with a then pending missile competition. The company promptly provided information in response to the request. In late 2021, the company resumed discussions with staff at the FTC regarding our response and their views on compliance issues. In late 2022, the company received a follow-on CID; the company responded to it earlier this year. On October 20, 2023, the FTC informed the company that the FTC has now closed the investigation with no further action.
The company received from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) a criminal subpoena on December 9, 2022, and a civil investigative demand on February 2, 2023, both seeking information regarding financial and cost accounting and controls that appears focused on the interest rate assumptions the company used to determine our CAS pension expense, which we have previously discussed in Note 6 below. The company is engaging with the government and responding to the requests. We cannot at this point predict the outcome of these matters.
The company is a party to various other investigations, lawsuits, arbitration, claims, enforcement actions and other legal proceedings, including government investigations and claims, that arise in the ordinary course of our business. The nature of legal proceedings is such that we cannot assure the outcome of any particular matter. However, based on information available to the company to date, the company does not believe that the outcome of any of these other matters pending against the company is likely to have a material adverse effect on the company’s unaudited condensed consolidated financial position as of September 30, 2023, or its annual results of operations and/or cash flows.