Legal Proceedings, Guarantees, and Commitments

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Guarantees [Abstract]

Legal Proceedings, Guarantees, and Commitments

Legal Proceedings

The Company is routinely involved in a number of actual or threatened legal actions, including those involving alleged personal injuries, employment law, product liability, intellectual property, environmental issues, alleged tax liability (see Note 13 for information on income tax matters), and class actions. The Company also routinely receives inquiries from regulators and other government authorities relating to various aspects of our business, and at any given time, the Company has matters at various stages of resolution. The outcomes of these matters are not within our complete control and may not be known for prolonged periods of time. In some actions, claimants seek damages, as well as other relief including injunctive relief, that could require significant expenditures or result in lost revenues. In accordance with applicable accounting standards, the Company records a liability in its consolidated financial statements for material loss contingencies when a loss is known or considered probable and the amount can be reasonably estimated. If the reasonable estimate of a known or probable loss is a range, and no amount within the range is a better estimate than any other, the minimum amount of the range is accrued. If a material loss contingency is reasonably possible but not known or probable, and can be reasonably estimated, the estimated loss or range of loss is disclosed in the notes to the consolidated financial statements. When determining the estimated loss or range of loss, significant judgment is required to estimate the amount and timing of a loss to be recorded. Estimates of probable losses resulting from litigation and governmental proceedings involving the Company are inherently difficult to predict, particularly when the matters are in early procedural stages, with incomplete facts or legal discovery; involve unsubstantiated or indeterminate claims for damages; potentially involve penalties, fines, disgorgement, or punitive damages; or could result in a change in business practice.

The Company has been a party to numerous lawsuits pending in various U.S. state and federal courts arising out of Syngenta Corporation’s (“Syngenta”) marketing and distribution of genetically modified corn products in the U.S. First, the Company brought a state court action in Louisiana against Syngenta in 2014, alleging Syngenta was negligent in commercializing its products before the products were approved in China. In December 2017, the Company and Syngenta reached a confidential settlement of this action. Second, Syngenta brought third-party claims against the Company in 2015 in a federal multidistrict litigation (“MDL”) in Kansas City, Kansas, consolidated state court litigation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and other courts, seeking contribution in the event Syngenta is held liable in class actions by farmers and other parties. In the December 2017 settlement, Syngenta agreed to dismiss all of these third-party claims against the Company. Third, farmers and other parties have sued the Company and other grain companies in numerous individual and purported class action suits in Illinois state and federal courts beginning in the fourth quarter of 2015, alleging the Company and other grain companies were negligent in failing to screen for genetically modified corn. All of these claims were dismissed, subject to appeal, in several orders entered on August 17, 2016 by the federal court in Minneapolis on January 4, 2017 by the federal court in the Southern District of Illinois, and on August 18, 2017 by a state court in Illinois. Subsequently in 2019, a number of additional plaintiffs filed substantially similar claims against the Company and other grain companies in the same Illinois state court. The Company has filed a motion to apply the court's prior dismissal order to these additional complaints, which motion the court has indicated it will grant upon submission of a proposed order from the parties. Thus, pending the anticipated application of the prior dismissal order to the additional Illinois state court complaints and subject to appeals, the Company will not be a defendant in any remaining actions. The Company denies liability in all of the actions in which it has been named as a defendant or third-party defendant and will vigorously defend itself on appeal in these cases. At this time, the Company is unable to predict the final outcome of this matter with any reasonable degree of certainty, but believes the outcome will not have a material adverse effect on its financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows.

On September 4, 2019, AOT Holding AG (“AOT”) filed a putative class action under the U.S. Commodities Exchange Act in federal district court in Urbana, Illinois, alleging that the Company sought to manipulate the benchmark price used to price and settle ethanol derivatives traded on futures exchanges. AOT alleges that members of the putative class suffered “hundreds of millions of dollars in damages” as a result of the Company’s alleged actions.  The Company filed a motion to dismiss this suit in November 2019, and that motion is awaiting decision by the court. The Company denies liability, and is vigorously defending itself, in this action.  As this action is in pretrial proceedings, the Company is unable at this time to predict the final outcome with any reasonable degree of certainty, but believes the outcome will not have a material adverse effect on its financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows.

On September 5, 2019, D&M Farms, Mark Hasty, and Dustin Land filed a putative class action on behalf of a purported class of peanut farmers under the U.S. federal antitrust laws in federal court in Norfolk, Virginia, alleging that the Company’s subsidiary, Golden Peanut, and another peanut shelling company, conspired to fix the price they paid to farmers for raw peanuts.  The Company filed a motion to dismiss this suit in October 2019, and that motion is awaiting decision by the court. The Company denies liability, and is vigorously defending itself, in this action.  As this action is in pretrial proceedings, the Company is unable at this time to predict the final outcome with any reasonable degree of certainty, but believes the outcome will not have a material adverse effect on its financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows.