ALPHA PRO TECH LTD Commitments Disclosure
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12. |
Legal |
Legal Proceedings:
On June 7, 2022, the Company filed a lawsuit (the “Lawsuit”) in the Fourth Judicial District Court of Utah naming as defendants Mechanized Concepts, LLC, Matthew D. Collegee, Collegee Machine, Engineering, Design, LLC, Joseph Collegee d/b/a/ Collegee Machine, and Justin Staub (collectively, the “Defendants”). The Lawsuit relates to certain equipment ordered from Defendants and paid for by the Company, which Defendants never delivered. In the Lawsuit the Company is seeking the following relief: compensatory damages in the amount $490,000, representing the money the Company paid for the machines it never received, lost profits in the form of mask sales it could have made if Defendants had delivered the machines on the promised date and other monetary and equitable relief. In 2022, the Company had written off the $490,000 balance of the deposit paid for the equipment, pending any recovery in the Lawsuit. As of the date hereof, no counterclaims have been asserted against the Company. The Company believes there would not be any meritorious claims against the Company in the Lawsuit. The Lawsuit is in its early stages and the final outcome, including the potential amount of any recovery for the Company’s claims, is uncertain.
The Company is subject to various pending and threatened litigation actions in the ordinary course of business. Although it is not possible to determine with certainty at this point in time what liability, if any, the Company will have as a result of such litigation, based on consultation with legal counsel, management does not anticipate that the ultimate liability, if any, resulting from such litigation will have a material effect on the Company’s financial condition and results of operations.
Historical Timeline
| Fiscal Year | Filed | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Mar 12, 2025 | Showing above |
| 2021 | Mar 11, 2022 | |
| 2018 | Mar 6, 2019 | |
| 2017 | Mar 12, 2018 | |
| 2016 | Mar 8, 2017 | |
| 2015 | Mar 3, 2016 | |
About Commitments Disclosures
Commitments and contingencies disclosures catalog a company's off-balance-sheet obligations and legal exposures — purchase commitments, guarantee arrangements, pending litigation, and regulatory proceedings. These items represent potential future cash outflows that may not appear as liabilities on the balance sheet until they become probable and estimable.
Key signals: litigation reserves and disclosed loss ranges quantify management's estimate of legal exposure, but unquantified "reasonably possible" losses often represent the larger risk. Watch for changes in language around pending cases — shifts from "remote" to "reasonably possible" or increases in estimated loss ranges signal deteriorating outcomes. Unconditional purchase obligations and take-or-pay contracts create fixed cost structures that reduce operational flexibility. Guarantee arrangements for subsidiaries or joint ventures can create cascading obligations. Compare the total commitment schedule against projected free cash flow to assess whether the company can meet its obligations without additional financing.