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COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2022
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

NOTE 10. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

 

We are subject to litigation that arises from time to time in the ordinary course of our business activities. In February 2019, the Company filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Lafayette Division, asserting that Stabil Drill Specialties, LLC’s (“Stabil Drill”) Smoothbore Eccentric Reamer infringes the patents of Extreme Technologies, LLC (one of our subsidiaries) on our patented Drill-N-Ream well bore conditioning tool. The lawsuit was subsequently moved from Louisiana to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division. Additionally, on May 20, 2019, Extreme Technologies, LLC sued Short Bit & Tool Co. and Lot William Short, Jr. (“Defendants”) in the Northern District of Texas-Dallas Division for their work manufacturing the Smoothbore Eccentric Reamer for Stabil Drill. The Dallas lawsuit is stayed pending resolution of the first-filed, Houston suit. On October 1, 2020, Superior Energy Services, Stabil Drill’s parent company, filed for bankruptcy, which resulted in a brief, automatic stay of the litigation. Superior Energy Services announced on February 2, 2021, that it successfully completed its financial restructuring and emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but this bankruptcy did not affect Extreme Technologies claims against Stabil Drill. On March 9, 2021, the Court lifted the automatic bankruptcy stay, and on May 12, 2021, the Court denied Stabil drill’s motion for summary judgment of non-infringement. The parties are preparing this case for trial and expect a jury trial setting in late 2022 or early 2023.