CONTINGENCIES

In the normal course of business, the Company is party to various commercial and legal claims, actions and complaints, including matters involving warranty claims, intellectual property claims, general liability and various other risks. It is not possible to predict with certainty whether or not the Company will ultimately be successful in any of these commercial and legal matters or, if not, what the impact might be. The Company's environmental and product liability contingencies are discussed separately below. The Company's management does not expect that an adverse outcome in any of these commercial and legal claims, actions and complaints will have a material adverse effect on the Company's results of operations, financial position or cash flows, although it could be material to the results of operations in a particular quarter.

Environmental

The Company and certain of its current and former direct and indirect corporate predecessors, subsidiaries and divisions have been identified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and certain state environmental agencies and private parties as potentially responsible parties (“PRPs”) at various hazardous waste disposal sites under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (“Superfund”) and equivalent state laws. The PRPs may currently be liable for the cost of clean-up and other remedial activities at 28 such sites. Responsibility for clean-up and other remedial activities at a Superfund site is typically shared among PRPs based on an allocation formula.

The Company believes that none of these matters, individually or in the aggregate, will have a material adverse effect on its results of operations, financial position or cash flows. Generally, this is because either the estimates of the maximum potential liability at a site are not material or the liability will be shared with other PRPs, although no assurance can be given with respect to the ultimate outcome of any such matter.

The Company has an accrual for environmental liabilities of $9.0 million and $8.3 million as of December 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively. This accrual is based on information available to the Company (which in most cases includes: an estimate of allocation of liability among PRPs; the probability that other PRPs, many of whom are large, solvent public companies, will fully pay the cost apportioned to them; currently available information from PRPs and/or federal or state environmental agencies concerning the scope of contamination and estimated remediation and consulting costs; and remediation alternatives).

Asbestos-related Liability

Like many other industrial companies that have historically operated in the United States, the Company, or parties that the Company is obligated to indemnify, continues to be named as one of many defendants in asbestos-related personal injury actions. The Company vigorously defends against these claims, and has been successful in obtaining the dismissal of the majority of the claims asserted against it without any payment. Due to the nature of the fibers used in certain types of automotive products, the encapsulation of the asbestos, and the manner of the products’ use, the Company believes that these products were and are highly unlikely to cause harm. Furthermore, the useful life of nearly all of these products expired many years ago. The Company likewise expects that no payment will be made by the Company or its insurance carriers in the vast majority of current and future asbestos-related claims.

The Company’s asbestos-related claims activity for the year ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 is as follows:



	2018		2017
Beginning claims January 1	9,225		9,385
New claims received	1,932		2,116
Dismissed claims	(2,189	)	(1,866	)
Settled claims	(370	)	(410	)
Ending claims December 31	8,598		9,225

Through December 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, the Company incurred $574.4 million and $528.7 million, respectively, in asbestos-related claim resolution costs (including settlement payments and judgments) and associated defense costs. During 2018 and 2017, the Company paid $46.0 million and $51.7 million, respectively, in asbestos-related claim resolution costs and associated defense costs. These gross payments are before tax benefits and any insurance receipts. Asbestos-related claim resolution costs and associated defense costs are reflected in the Company's operating cash flows and will continue to be in the future.

The Company reviews, on an ongoing basis, its own experience in handling asbestos-related claims and trends affecting asbestos-related claims in the U.S. tort system generally, for the purposes of assessing the value of pending asbestos-related claims and the number and value of those that may be asserted in the future, as well as potential recoveries from the Company’s insurance carriers with respect to such claims and defense costs.

As part of its review and assessment of asbestos-related claims, the Company utilizes a third party actuary to further assist in the analysis of potential future asbestos-related claim resolution costs and associated defense costs. The actuary’s work utilizes data and analysis resulting from the Company’s claim review process, including input from national coordinating counsel and local counsel, and includes the development of an estimate of the potential value of asbestos-related claims asserted but not yet resolved as well as the number and potential value of asbestos-related claims not yet asserted. In developing the estimate of liability for potential future claims, the actuary projects a potential number of future claims based on the Company’s historical claim filings and patterns and compares that to anticipated levels of unique plaintiff asbestos-related claims asserted in the U.S. tort system against all defendants. The actuary also utilizes assumptions based on the Company’s historical proportion of claims resolved without payment, historical claim resolution costs for those claims that result in a payment, and historical defense costs. The liabilities are then estimated by multiplying the pending and projected future claim filings by projected payments rates and average claim resolution amounts and then adding an estimate for defense costs.

The Company determined based on the factors described above, including the analysis and input of the actuary, that its best estimate of the aggregate liability both for asbestos-related claims asserted but not yet resolved and potential asbestos-related claims not yet asserted, including estimated defense costs, was $805.3 million and $828.2 million as of December 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively. This liability reflects the actuarial central estimate, which is intended to represent an expected value of the most probable outcome. As of December 31, 2018 and 2017, the Company estimates that its aggregate liability for such claims, including defense costs, is as follows:



(millions of dollars)	2018			2017
Beginning asbestos liability as of January 1	$	828.2		$	879.3
Actuarial revaluation	22.8			—
Claim resolution costs and defense related costs	(45.7		)	(51.1		)
Ending asbestos liability as of December 31	$	805.3		$	828.2

The Company's estimate is not discounted to present value and includes an estimate of liability for potential future claims not yet asserted through December 31, 2064 with a runoff through 2074. The Company currently believes that December 31, 2074 is a reasonable assumption as to the last date on which it is likely to have resolved all asbestos-related claims, based on the nature and useful life of the Company’s products and the likelihood of incidence of asbestos-related disease in the U.S. population generally.

During the year ended December 31, 2018, the Company recorded an increase to its asbestos-related liabilities of $22.8 million as a result of actuarial valuation changes. This increase was the result of higher future defense costs resulting from recent trends in the ratio of defense costs to claim resolution costs. During the year ended December 31, 2017, the Company with the assistance of counsel and its third party actuary reviewed the Company's claims experience against external data sources and concluded no actuarial valuation adjustment to the liability in 2017 was necessary. During the year ended December 31, 2016, the Company recorded a decrease to its asbestos-related liabilities of $45.5 million as a result of actuarial valuation changes. This decrease was the result of lower future claim resolution costs resulting from changes in the Company's defense strategy in recent years and docket control measures which were implemented in a significant jurisdiction in 2016.

The Company’s estimate of the claim resolution costs and associated defense costs for asbestos-related claims asserted but not yet resolved and potential claims not yet asserted is its reasonable best estimate of such costs. Such estimate is subject to numerous uncertainties. These include future legislative or judicial changes affecting the U.S. tort system, bankruptcy proceedings involving one or more co-defendants, the impact and timing of payments from bankruptcy trusts that currently exist and those that may exist in the future, disease emergence and associated claim filings, the impact of future settlements or significant judgments, changes in the medical condition of claimants, changes in the treatment of asbestos-related disease, and any changes in settlement or defense strategies. The balances recorded for asbestos-related claims are based on the best available information and assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable, including as to the number of future claims that may be asserted, the percentage of claims that may result in a payment, the average cost to resolve such claims, and potential defense costs. The Company has concluded that it is reasonably possible that it may incur additional losses through 2074 for asbestos-related claims, in addition to amounts recorded, of up to approximately $100.0 million as of December 31, 2018 and 2017. The various assumptions utilized in arriving at the Company’s estimate may also change over time, and the Company’s actual liability for asbestos-related claims asserted but not yet resolved and those not yet asserted may be higher or lower than the Company’s estimate as a result of such changes.

The Company has certain insurance coverage applicable to asbestos-related claims including primary insurance and excess insurance coverage. Prior to June 2004, the claim resolution costs and defense costs associated with all asbestos-related claims were paid by the Company's primary layer insurance carriers under a series of interim funding arrangements. In June 2004, primary layer insurance carriers notified the Company of the alleged exhaustion of their policy limits. A declaratory judgment action was filed in January 2004 in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois by Continental Casualty Company and related companies against the Company and certain of its historical general liability insurance carriers. The Cook County court has issued a number of interim rulings and discovery is continuing in this proceeding. The Company is vigorously pursuing the litigation against all insurance carriers that continue to be parties to it, which currently includes excess insurance carriers, as well as pursuing settlement discussions with its insurance carriers where appropriate. The Company has entered into settlement agreements with certain of its insurance carriers, resolving such insurance carriers’ coverage disputes through the insurance carriers’ agreement to pay specified amounts to the Company, either immediately or over a specified period. Through December 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, the Company received $271.1 million and $270.0 million, respectively, in cash and notes from insurance carriers on account of asbestos-related claim resolution costs and associated defense costs.

As of December 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, the Company estimates that it has $386.4 million in aggregate insurance coverage available with respect to asbestos-related claims, and their associated defense costs. The Company has recorded this insurance coverage as a long-term receivable for asbestos-related claim resolution costs and associated defense costs that have been incurred, less cash and notes received, and remaining limits as a deferred insurance asset with respect to liabilities recorded for potential future costs for asbestos-related claims. The Company has determined the amount of that estimate by taking into account the remaining limits of the insurance coverage, the number and amount of potential claims from co-insured parties, potential remaining recoveries from insolvent insurance carriers, the impact of previous insurance settlements, and coverage available from solvent insurance carriers not party to the coverage litigation. The Company’s estimated remaining insurance coverage relating to asbestos-related claims and their associated defense costs is the subject of disputes with its insurance carriers, substantially all of which are being adjudicated in the Cook County insurance litigation. The Company believes that its insurance receivable is probable of collection notwithstanding those disputes based on, among other things, the arguments made by the insurance carriers in the Cook County litigation and evaluation of those arguments by the Company and its counsel, the case law applicable to the issues in dispute, the rulings to date by the Cook County court, the absence of any credible evidence alleged by the insurance carriers that they are not liable to indemnify the Company, and the fact that the Company has recovered a substantial portion of its insurance coverage, $271.1 million through December 31, 2018, from its insurance carriers under similar policies. However, the resolution of the insurance coverage disputes, and the number and amount of claims on our insurance from co-insured parties, may increase or decrease the amount of such insurance coverage available to the Company as compared to the Company’s estimate.

The amounts recorded in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets respecting asbestos-related claims are as follows:



	December 31,
(millions of dollars)	2018		2017
Assets:
Other long-term asbestos-related insurance receivables	$	303.3	$	258.7
Deferred asbestos-related insurance asset	83.1		127.7
Total insurance assets	$	386.4	$	386.4
Liabilities:
Accounts payable and accrued expenses	$	50.0	$	52.5
Other non-current liabilities	755.3		775.7
Total accrued liabilities	$	805.3	$	828.2

On July 31, 2018, the Division of Enforcement of the SEC informed the Company that it is conducting an investigation related to the Company's accounting for asbestos-related claims not yet asserted. The Company is fully cooperating with the SEC in connection with its investigation.