Note 10. Legal, Environmental and Other Contingencies

The Company is regularly involved in litigation, both as a plaintiff and as a defendant, relating to its business and operations, including environmental, commercial, employment and federal and/or state Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) administrative actions. Future expenditures for environmental, employment, intellectual property and other legal matters cannot be determined with any degree of certainty; however, based on the facts presently known, management does not believe that such costs will have a material effect on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

The Company is currently, and has in the past been, subject to claims involving personal injuries allegedly relating to its products and processes. For example, the Company is presently involved in two actions involving welding rod-related injuries, which were filed in California state court against numerous manufacturers, including the Company, in May 2006 and February 2007, respectively, alleging that the welding-related products of the defendant manufacturers harmed the users of such products through the inhalation of welding fumes containing manganese. The Company (together with a number of other manufacturer defendants) is also involved in three actions alleging that asbestos in its facilities harmed the plaintiffs. The Company believes that it has defenses to these allegations and that, if the Company were to be found liable, the cases would not have a material effect on its financial position, results of operations or liquidity.

The Company has received permits from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources to close and provide post‑closure environmental monitoring and care for the certain areas of its Kokomo and Mountain Home, North Carolina facilities, respectively.

The Company is required to, among other things, monitor groundwater and to continue post‑closure maintenance of the former disposal areas at each site. As a result, the Company is aware of elevated levels of certain contaminants in the groundwater, and additional testing and corrective action by the Company could be required. The Company is unable to estimate the costs of any further corrective action at these sites, if required. Accordingly, the Company cannot assure that the costs of any future corrective action at these or any other current or former sites would not have a material effect on the Company’s financial condition, results of operations or liquidity.

As of September 30, 2016, the Company has accrued $683 for post-closure monitoring and maintenance activities, of which $608 is included in long-term obligations as it is not due within one year. Accruals for these costs are calculated by estimating the cost to monitor and maintain each post-closure site and multiplying that amount by the number of years remaining in the post-closure monitoring.

Expected maturities of post-closure monitoring and maintenance activities (discounted) included in long-term obligations are as follows at September 30, 2016.


2017	$	—
2018		78
2019		59
2020		50
2021		50
2022 and thereafter		371
	$	608

On February 11, 2016, the Company voluntarily reported to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality a leak that it discovered in one of its chemical cleaning operations at its Arcadia, Louisiana facility. As a result of the discovery, the Company is working with that department to determine the extent of the issue and appropriate remediation.