| ENVIRONMENTAL, CONTINGENCIES AND COMMITMENTS | 3 Months Ended |
| Mar. 31, 2014 |
| Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] | ' |
| ENVIRONMENTAL, CONTINGENCIES AND COMMITMENTS | ' |
| ENVIRONMENTAL, CONTINGENCIES AND COMMITMENTS |
| Environmental Matters |
| We are subject to substantial costs arising out of environmental laws and regulations, which include obligations to remove or limit the effects on the environment of the disposal or release of certain wastes or substances at various sites or to pay compensation to others for doing so. |
| As of March 31, 2014 and December 31, 2013, the aggregate environmental related accruals were $61.7 and $63.1, respectively, of which $11.9 was included in accrued expenses for both periods, with the remainder of $49.8 and $51.2 included in other noncurrent liabilities as of March 31, 2014, and December 31, 2013, respectively. Environmental remediation spending for the three months ended March 31, 2014 and 2013 was $0.9 and $1.6, respectively. |
| We review our environmental remediation accruals quarterly. From time to time, we adjust our environmental related accruals based on new information. During the three months ended March 31, 2014, our adjustments resulted in a net decrease of $0.2 in our environmental related accruals, consisting of a decrease of $1.5 related primarily to an inactive U.S. site to revise its projected remediation costs based on new findings and approval of risk assessments by the regulatory authorities, offset by an increase of $1.3 related to several other sites. |
| Our environmental related accruals can change substantially due to such factors as additional information on the nature or extent of contamination, methods of remediation required, changes in the apportionment of costs among responsible parties, and other actions by governmental agencies or private parties, or if we are named in a new matter and determine that an accrual needs to be provided, or if we determine that we are not liable and no longer require an accrual. |
| A further discussion of environmental matters can be found in Note 12 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in our 2013 Annual Report on Form 10-K. |
| Other Contingencies |
| We are the subject of numerous lawsuits and claims incidental to the conduct of our or certain of our predecessors’ businesses, including lawsuits and claims relating to product liability and personal injury, including asbestos, environmental, contractual, employment and intellectual property matters. |
| As of March 31, 2014 and December 31, 2013, the aggregate self-insured and insured contingent liability was $46.1 and $46.9, respectively, and the related insurance recovery receivable for the liability as well as claims for past payments was $20.0 at both March 31, 2014 and December 31, 2013. The asbestos liability included in the above amounts at March 31, 2014 and December 31, 2013 was $37.8 and $37.9, respectively, and the insurance receivable related to the liability as well as claims for past payments was $19.6 for both periods. We anticipate receiving a net tax benefit for payment of those claims for which full insurance recovery is not realized. |
| Asbestos |
| We, like many other industrial companies, have been named as one of hundreds of defendants in a number of lawsuits filed in the U.S. by persons alleging bodily injury from asbestos. The claimants allege exposure to asbestos at facilities that we own or formerly owned, or from products that we formerly manufactured for specialized applications. Most of these cases involve numerous defendants, sometimes as many as several hundred. Historically, most of the closed asbestos claims against us have been dismissed without any indemnity payment by us; however, we can make no assurances that this pattern will continue. |
| The following table presents information about the number of claimants involved in asbestos claims with us: |
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| Three Months Ended March 31, 2014 | | Year Ended December 31, 2013 |
| Number of claimants at beginning of period | 8,100 | | | 8,000 | |
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| Number of claimants associated with claims closed during period | — | | | (100 | ) |
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| Number of claimants associated with claims opened during period | — | | | 200 | |
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| Number of claimants at end of period | 8,100 | | | 8,100 | |
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| Numbers in the foregoing table are rounded to the nearest hundred and are based on information as received by us which may lag actual court filing dates by several months or more. Claims are recorded as closed when a claimant is dismissed or severed from a case. Claims are opened whenever a new claim is brought, including from a claimant previously dismissed or severed from another case. |
| Our asbestos related contingent liabilities and related insurance receivables are based on an actuarial study performed by a third party, which is updated every three years. During the third quarter of 2012, we completed an actuarial study of our asbestos related contingent liabilities and related insurance receivables, which will be updated again in the third quarter of 2015. The study is based on, among other things, the incidence and nature of historical claims data through June 30, 2012, the incidence of malignancy claims, the severity of indemnity payments for malignancy and non-malignancy claims, dismissal rates by claim type, estimated future claim frequency, settlement values and reserves, and expected average insurance recovery rates by claim type. The study assumes liabilities through 2049. |
| In 2012, as a result of our findings, we recorded a decrease of $2.1 to our self-insured and insured contingent liabilities for indemnity costs for pending and anticipated probable future claims and recorded a decrease of $1.0 related to receivables for probable insurance recoveries for these pending and future claims. The reserve decrease was attributable to lower projected claim filings offset by more severe malignancy rates and settlement value projections. The decrease in the receivable was a result of the lower gross liability and a shift in the types of future claims expected. Overall, we expect to recover approximately 48% of our future indemnity costs. We have completed Coverage-In-Place-Agreements with most of our larger insurance carriers. |
| The ultimate liability and related insurance recovery for all pending and anticipated future claims cannot be determined with certainty due to the difficulty of forecasting the numerous variables that can affect the amount of the liability and insurance recovery. These variables include but are not limited to: (i) significant changes in the number of future claims; (ii) significant changes in the average cost of resolving claims; (iii) changes in the nature of claims received; (iv) changes in the laws applicable to these claims; and (v) financial viability of co-defendants and insurers. |
| Lead Pigment |
| Over the past 20 years we have been named as defendants in more than fifty cases in the U.S. in which plaintiffs assert claims for personal injury, property damage, and other claims for relief relating to one or more kinds of lead pigment that were used as an ingredient decades ago in architectural paint. Eight lead ingestion personal injury cases remain outstanding. The different suits were brought by government entities and/or individual plaintiffs, on behalf of themselves and others. The suits variously sought compensatory and punitive damages and/or injunctive relief, including funds for the cost of monitoring, detecting and removing lead based paint from buildings and for medical monitoring; for personal injuries allegedly caused by ingestion of lead based paint; and plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees. We settled one of these cases in 2005 for an immaterial amount in order to avoid litigation costs. In all of the others, we prevailed in court or were dismissed as a defendant. |
| We currently are one of several defendants in eight personal injury lead ingestion cases, consisting of 172 plaintiffs venued in federal and state courts in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. One of the eight cases consists of 164 claimants, each alleging personal injury as a result of the ingestion of white lead carbonate in paint. The remaining seven cases consist of less than 10 total plaintiffs. We believe that the eight personal injury cases against us are without merit. |
| In July 2005, in a case in which we were one of several defendants, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin held that Wisconsin’s risk contribution doctrine applies to bodily injury cases against manufacturers of white lead pigment. Under this doctrine, manufacturers of white lead pigment may be liable for injuries caused by white lead pigment based on their past market shares, unless they can prove they are not responsible for the white lead pigment which caused the injury in question. Seven of the eight personal injury cases, including the personal injury case consisting of 164 plaintiffs, were filed before January 2011, when the Wisconsin legislature passed legislation that will make it substantially more difficult to bring lead suits in the future, including a 25 year statute of repose. In June 2013, the Governor of Wisconsin signed into law the biennial budget which contained within it a provision that retroactively applies the 2011 law to all claims of lead poisoning whether filed or accrued. The defendants, including the Company, moved to dismiss the personal injury lead cases pending in Wisconsin state court pursuant to the new law. By decision dated March 2014 in the Wisconsin state court case styled Clark et al. v. American Cyanamid Company et al., the court denied the defendants motion holding unconstitutional the retroactive application of the new law. The defendants, including the Company, appealed the decision. |
| Also, in 2010, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin held that the risk contribution theory imposed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court for lead pigment violates the due process clause set forth in the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Court’s decision was appealed to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals also requested that the parties brief the constitutionality of the new retroactivity provision in the biennial budget. A decision from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals remains pending. |
| Finally, in July 2009, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, in the case styled Ruben Godoy et al v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours et al., upheld a lower court’s decision dismissing the plaintiff’s strict liability and negligent defect causes of action for white lead carbonate. The decision in these cases, the new statutory law in Wisconsin, and our non-existent or diminutive market share, reinforces our belief that we have no liability in any of the eight Wisconsin cases, and accordingly, we have not recorded a loss contingency. |
| We have access to a substantial amount of primary and excess general liability insurance for public nuisance and believe these policies are available to cover a significant portion of both our defense costs and indemnity costs, if any, for lead pigment related public nuisance claims. We have agreements with two of our insurers to date which provide that they will pay for approximately fifty percent (50%) of our defense costs associated with lead pigment related public nuisance claims. |
| Other |
| Periodically, we enter into settlement discussions for lawsuits or claims for which we have meritorious defenses and for which an unfavorable outcome against us is not probable. In such instances, no loss contingency is recorded since a loss is not probable and it is our policy to expense defense costs as incurred. Typically, we consider these types of settlements in fairly limited circumstances usually related to the avoidance of future defense costs and/or the elimination of any risk of an unfavorable outcome. Such settlements, if any, are recorded when it is probable a liability has been incurred, typically upon entering into a settlement agreement. |
| While it is not feasible to predict the outcome of all pending environmental matters, lawsuits and claims, it is reasonably possible that there will be a necessity for future provisions for costs for environmental matters and for other contingent liabilities that we believe, will not have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position, but could be material to our consolidated results of operations or cash flows in any one accounting period. We cannot estimate any additional amount of loss or range of loss in excess of the recorded amounts. Moreover, many of these liabilities are paid over an extended period, and the timing of such payments cannot be predicted with any certainty. |
| From time to time, we are also included in legal proceedings as a plaintiff involving tax, contract, patent protection, environmental and other legal matters. Gain contingencies related to these matters, if any, are recorded when they are realized. |
| A further discussion of other contingencies can be found in Note 12 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in our 2013 Annual Report on Form 10-K. |
| Commitments |
| We frequently enter into long-term contracts with customers with terms that vary depending on specific industry practices. Our business is not substantially dependent on any single contract or any series of related contracts. Descriptions of our significant sales contracts at December 31, 2013 are set forth in Note 12 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in our 2013 Annual Report on Form 10-K. |
