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Contingencies
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2023
Contingencies  
Contingencies

10. Contingencies

Asbestos

From 1948 to 1958, one of the Company’s former business units commercially produced and sold approximately $40 million of a high-temperature, calcium-silicate based pipe and block insulation material containing asbestos. The Company sold its insulation business unit in April 1958. The Company historically received claims from individuals alleging bodily injury and death as a result of exposure to asbestos from this product.

On December 26 and 27, 2019, the Company implemented the Corporate Modernization, whereby O-I Glass became the new parent entity with Owens-Illinois Group, Inc. (“O-I Group”) and Paddock as direct, wholly owned subsidiaries, with Paddock as the successor-by-merger to O-I (the “Corporate Modernization”). The Company’s legacy asbestos-related liabilities remained within Paddock, with the Company’s glass-making operations remaining under O-I Group. As part of the Corporate Modernization transactions, O-I Glass entered into a support agreement with Paddock that required O-I Glass to provide funding to Paddock for all permitted uses, subject to the terms of the support agreement. The key objectives of the Paddock support agreement were to ensure that Paddock retained the ability to fund the costs and expenses of managing the Chapter 11 process, and ultimately settle current and future asbestos-related liabilities through the establishment of a trust as described below and fund certain other liabilities.

On January 6, 2020 (the “Petition Date”), Paddock voluntarily filed for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the “Bankruptcy Court”) to equitably and finally resolve all of its current and future asbestos-related liabilities. O-I Glass and O-I Group were not included in the Chapter 11 filing. During the pendency of the Chapter 11 proceeding, the activities of Paddock became subject to review and oversight by the Bankruptcy Court. As a result, the Company no longer had exclusive control over Paddock’s activities. Therefore, Paddock was deconsolidated as of the Petition Date, and its assets and liabilities were derecognized from the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements on a prospective basis. Simultaneously, the Company recognized a liability related to the Paddock support agreement as required under applicable accounting standards.

On April 26, 2021, the Company announced that (i) Paddock, (ii) the Official Committee of Asbestos Personal Injury Claimants (the “ACC”), appointed in the Paddock Chapter 11 case as the representative of current Paddock asbestos claimants, and (iii) the Legal Representative of Future Asbestos Claimants (the “FCR”), appointed in the Paddock Chapter 11 case as the representative of future Paddock asbestos claimants, had reached an agreement in principle, supported by O-I Glass, by accepting a proposal from Paddock’s court-appointed mediators setting forth total consideration to fund a trust created under section 524(g) of the Bankruptcy Code upon the effective date of a plan of reorganization for Paddock (the “Effective Date”).

On January 12, 2022, Paddock, O-I Glass, the FCR and the ACC jointly filed the Plan of Reorganization for Paddock Enterprises, LLC Under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, dated January 12, 2022 (including any supplements and exhibits thereto, as amended, modified or supplemented from time to time in accordance with the terms thereof, the “Plan”). Amended versions of the Plan were subsequently filed on February 14, 2022, April 1, 2022, and May 24, 2022. The Plan incorporates and implements the agreement in principle described herein. On May 26, 2022, the Bankruptcy Court entered an order confirming the Plan and recommending that the District Court affirm such confirmation. On June 22, 2022, the District Court entered an order affirming the confirmation order previously issued by the Bankruptcy Court. On July 8, 2022, the Effective Date of the Plan occurred.

Under the confirmed and effective Plan, the Paddock Trust was created pursuant to the provisions of section 524(g) of the Bankruptcy Code and was funded with $610 million in total consideration (“Settlement Consideration”). In exchange for the Settlement Consideration, the Company, each of its current and former affiliates and certain other related parties (the “Company Protected Parties”) received the benefit of a release from Paddock, and Paddock and the Company Protected Parties received the benefit of an injunction under section 524(g) of the Bankruptcy Code channeling current and future asbestos-related personal injury claims to the Paddock Trust and permanently enjoining the assertion of asbestos-related personal injury claims against Paddock and the Company Protected Parties. In addition, the Paddock Trust, Paddock and O-I Glass (on behalf of itself and the Company Protected Parties) entered into an agreement through which the Paddock Trust agreed to indemnify the Company Protected Parties against any attempts to evade the channeling injunction or to otherwise bring asbestos-related personal injury claims against any Company Protected Party after the Effective Date. As a result, the Plan provides for a full and final resolution of current and future asbestos-related personal injury claims, a full and final resolution of (and a release in favor of the Company and its affiliates for) all claims arising out of the Corporate Modernization and provides that upon the Effective Date (which occurred on July 8, 2022), all obligations owed under the support agreement would terminate. Consistent with the Plan, the support agreement was deemed rejected as of the Effective Date, and all obligations between the parties to the support agreement were terminated.

Pursuant to the Plan, Paddock issued a promissory note (the “Trust Note”) in the principal amount of $8.5 million to the Paddock Trust on the Effective Date, and the Company issued a pledge of the equity interests in reorganized Paddock to the Paddock Trust to secure the Trust Note. On July 18, 2022, the Company funded the Paddock Trust with $601.5 million, comprising $600 million borrowed under the Credit Agreement and $1.5 million from cash. On July 20, 2022, Paddock redeemed the Trust Note by paying $8.5 million in cash to the Paddock Trust, and the pledge of equity interests in reorganized Paddock was cancelled.

As a result of the funding of the Paddock Trust and the cancellation of the pledge of equity interests in reorganized Paddock, on July 20, 2022, the Company regained exclusive control over reorganized Paddock’s activities. Therefore, at that date in the third quarter of 2022, reorganized Paddock was reconsolidated, and its remaining assets totaling $18 million (including $12 million of cash and cash equivalents) and liabilities totaling $30 million were recognized in the Company’s Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.  The funding of the Paddock Trust and certain related expenses resulted in an operating cash outflow of $621 million in the Company’s Consolidated Cash Flows during 2022.

Other Matters

The Company has been identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) or a comparable state or federal agency as a potentially responsible party (“PRP”) at a number of sites in the U.S., including certain Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (“CERCLA”) (Superfund) sites, as well as sites previously owned or operated by the Company.  As an identified PRP, the Company may have liability for investigation, remediation and monitoring of contamination, as well as associated penalties and natural resource damages, if any.  The Company has not had monetary sanctions imposed nor has the Company been notified of any potential monetary sanctions at any of the sites.

The Company has recorded aggregate accruals of approximately $24 million (undiscounted) as of June 30, 2023 for estimated future remediation costs and associated penalties at these sites. The majority of these accruals arose from the reconsolidation of Paddock in 2022. Although the Company believes its accruals are adequate to cover its portion of future remediation costs, there can be no assurance that the ultimate payments will not exceed the amount of the

Company’s accruals and will not have a material effect on its results of operations, financial position and cash flows. Any possible loss or range of potential loss that may be incurred in excess of the recorded accruals cannot be estimated.

Other litigation is pending against the Company, in some cases involving ordinary and routine claims incidental to the business of the Company and in others presenting allegations that are non-routine and involve compensatory, punitive or treble damage claims as well as other types of relief. The Company records a liability for such matters when it is both probable that the liability has been incurred and the amount of the liability can be reasonably estimated. Recorded amounts are reviewed and adjusted to reflect changes in the factors upon which the estimates are based, including additional information, negotiations, settlements and other events.