Investigations, Claims and Litigation

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Investigations, Claims and Litigation

11. INVESTIGATIONS, CLAIMS AND LITIGATION

For over 25 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, the New York State Department of Health and other federal, state and local governmental authorities, to address environmental conditions allegedly resulting from historic operations at the former United States Navy and Grumman facilities in Bethpage, New York. We have incurred, and expect to continue to incur, as included in Note 12, substantial remediation costs related to these 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 2022, we resolved several disputes and regulatory proceedings concerning the scope and allocation of remediation responsibilities and costs related to this site. The company continues to be involved in related disputes, none of which are material individually or in the aggregate. We are also a party to various individual lawsuits and a putative class action in the Eastern District of New York alleging personal injury and property damage related to the legacy Bethpage environmental conditions. The court has stayed the filed individual lawsuits, pending its 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.

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 discuss in Note 12 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 consolidated financial position as of December 31, 2023, or its annual results of operations and/or cash flows.