Commitments and contingencies

In the normal course of its operations, the Company becomes involved in various legal actions, including claims relating to injuries and damage to property. The Company maintains provisions it considers to be adequate for such actions. While the final outcome with respect to actions outstanding or pending at December 31, 2015, cannot be predicted with certainty, it is the opinion of management that their resolution will not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial position or results of operations.

Commitments

At December 31, 2015, the Company had committed to total future capital expenditures amounting to $375 million and operating expenditures relating to supplier purchase obligations, such as locomotive maintenance and overhaul agreements, as well as agreements to purchase other goods and services amounting to approximately $1.5 billion for the years 2016-2032 of which CP estimates approximately $800 million will be incurred in the next five years.

As at December 31, 2015, the Company’s commitments under operating leases were estimated at $553 million in aggregate, with minimum annual payments in each of the next five years and thereafter as follows:



(in millions of Canadian dollars)	Operating leases
2016	$	107
2017	90
2018	62
2019	52
2020	45
Thereafter	197
Total minimum lease payments	$	553

Expenses for operating leases for the year ended December 31, 2015, were $127 million (2014 – $121 million; 2013 – $154 million).

Legal proceedings related to Lac-Mégantic rail accident

On July 6, 2013, a train carrying crude oil operated by Montreal Maine and Atlantic Railway (“MMA”) and/or its subsidiary, Montreal Maine and Atlantic Canada Co. (“MMAC”, and collectively with MMA, the “MMA Group”) derailed and exploded in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec on a section of railway line owned by the MMA Group. The previous day CP had interchanged the train to the MMA Group, and after that interchange MMA Group exercised exclusive control over the train.

Following this incident, the Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment, Wildlife and Parks of Quebec issued an order directing certain named parties to recover the contaminants and to clean up and decontaminate the derailment site. CP was added as a named party on August 14, 2013 (the “Amended Cleanup Order”). CP is a party to an administrative appeal with respect to the Amended Cleanup Order. No hearing date on the merits of CP’s appeal has been scheduled. Directly related to this matter, the Province of Quebec filed a lawsuit against CP before the Quebec Superior Court on July 6, 2015 in which it claims $409 million for the damages sustained by the province as a result of the expenses incurred following the derailment, including costs incurred for the work carried out pursuant to the Amended Cleanup Order. The province alleges that CP had custody or control of the contaminants that were discharged in Lac-Mégantic on July 6, 2013, and that CP was otherwise negligent and therefore is solidarily (joint and severally) liable with the other third parties responsible for the accident. No timetable governing the conduct of this lawsuit has been ordered by the court.

A class action lawsuit has also been filed in the Superior Court of Quebec on behalf of a class of persons and entities residing in, owning or leasing property in, operating a business in or physically present in Lac-Mégantic (the “Class Action”). The lawsuit seeks damages caused by the derailment including for wrongful deaths, personal injuries, and property damages. CP was added as a defendant on August 16, 2013. On May 8, 2015, the Superior Court of Quebec authorized the institution of the Class Action as against CP and as against the shipper, Western Petroleum, and the shipper’s parent, World Fuel Services (collectively, the “World Fuel Defendants”). The World Fuel Defendants have since settled. No timetable governing the conduct of this lawsuit has been ordered by the Superior Court of Quebec.

In the wake of the derailment and ensuing litigation, MMAC filed for bankruptcy in Canada (the “Canadian Proceeding”) and MMA filed for bankruptcy in the United States (the “U.S. Proceeding”). An Adversary Proceeding filed by the MMA U.S. bankruptcy trustee against CP, Irving Oil and the World Fuel Defendants accuses CP of failing to ensure that World Fuel Defendants or Irving Oil properly classified the oil lading and of not refusing to ship the oil in DOT-111 tank cars. The trustee has since settled with the World Fuel Defendants and Irving Oil and now maintains that CP misfeasance is based upon the railroad’s failure to abide by a Canadian regulation in North Dakota that supposedly would have caused the originating railroad to refuse to carry the crude oil based upon reason to suspect inaccurate classification. Private party litigation in Texas, Illinois, and Maine charges CP with the misclassification and mis-packaging (i.e., DOT-111 tank car) negligence. Those cases include a class action and a mass action in Texas and wrongful death actions in Illinois and Maine. CP removed all cases to U.S. federal court, and motions have been filed with respect to jurisdiction and venue.

In response to CP’s motion to withdraw the adversary proceedings from the U.S. Proceeding, the trustee maintained that Canadian law rather than U.S. law controlled, and the court found that if the federal regulations governed, the case was not complex enough to warrant withdrawal. CP moved to dismiss for want of personal jurisdiction, but that motion, which was heard on August 18, 2015, has been denied. Motions to dismiss on procedural grounds are pending in the private litigation. The parties recently stipulated that the bankruptcy adversary proceedings would be tried in district court before a jury.

Plans of arrangement have been approved both in the Canadian Proceeding and the U.S. Proceeding. These Plans provide for the distribution of a fund of approximately $440 million amongst those who claimed loss or damage as a result of the derailment and will release those parties which contributed to the fund from any further liability. The Plans also provide for broadly worded third-party releases and injunctions that prevent actions against settling parties. CP has not participated in the settlement and hence will not benefit from any third-party releases or injunctions. In addition, both Plans contain judgment reduction provisions. Pursuant to these provisions, in the event of a judgment against CP in a case arising from the Lac-Mégantic derailment, CP should receive a credit for the greater of (i) the settlement monies received by the plaintiff(s) for the claim, or (ii) the amount which, but for the third-party non-debtor injunctions, CP would have been entitled to obtain from third parties other than MMA and MMAC through contribution or indemnification. CP may also have rights to judgment reduction, as part of the contribution/indemnification credit, for the fault of MMA and/or MMAC. The provisions of the Plans also provide for a potential re-allocation of some aspects of the MMA Group’s liability among plaintiffs and non-settling parties.

Besides litigation that has now been commenced by wrongful death, personal injury, and property damage plaintiffs against CP in Maine, Texas, and Illinois, CP has received two damage to cargo notices of claims from the shipper of the oil on the derailed train, Western Petroleum. Western Petroleum submitted U.S. and Canadian notices of claims for the same damages and, under the Carmack Amendment (the U.S. damage to cargo statute), seeks to recover for all injuries associated with, and indemnification for all claims arising from, the derailment. Both jurisdictions permit a shipper to recover the value of damaged lading against any carrier in the delivery chain, subject to limitations in the carrier’s tariffs. CP’s tariffs significantly restrict shipper damage claim rights.

Western Petroleum is part of the World Fuel Services group, and those entities recently settled with the trustee. In connection with that settlement, Western Petroleum assigned to the bankruptcy trustee the right to delegate those cargo-related claims. To date the trustee has not so delegated, but he has indicated that the cargo claims will be assigned to the Trust to be formed to handle distributions of funds to wrongful death plaintiffs. Before the settlement, both the World Fuel Services group and the trustee maintained that Carmack liability extends beyond lading losses to cover all damages incurred by the World Fuel Services group or Irving Oil associated with the derailment. CP disputes this interpretation of the law. CP disputes this interpretation of damages to lading law and CP’s tariffs, if applicable, preclude such a result.

At this early stage of the legal proceedings, any potential liability and the quantum of potential loss cannot be determined. Nevertheless, CP denies liability for the MMA derailment and intends to vigorously defend itself in the proceedings described above and in any proceeding that may be commenced in the future.

Legal proceedings initiated by Canadian National Railway Company

On August 13, 2015, Canadian National Railway Company (“CN”) issued a statement of claim against the Company and an employee. The statement of claim was amended on January 7, 2016 to include an additional employee and an officer of the Company. The principal allegations against the Company are that the Company obtained and benefited from certain confidential CN customer data. CN is seeking damages but has not yet provided evidence to substantiate its damages claim. The Company plans to defend this claim and the amount of loss, if any, to the Company as a result of the claim cannot be reasonably estimated.