Item 3. Legal Proceedings
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
From time to time, we are subject to legal proceedings and claims arising from the current conduct of our business operations, including personal injury, customer contract, employment claims such as claims alleging violations of, and damages under, the FLSA and environmental and tax matters as described in our Consolidated Financial Statements. We maintain insurance coverage providing indemnification against many of such claims, and we do not expect that we will sustain any material loss as a result thereof.
In addition, we, like our competitors, are subject to various federal, state and local laws and regulations governing, among other things, air emissions, wastewater discharges, and the generation, handling, storage, transportation, treatment and disposal of hazardous wastes and other substances. In particular, industrial laundries currently use and must dispose of detergent waste water and other residues, and, in the past, have used perchloroethylene and other dry cleaning solvents. We have settled, or contributed to the settlement of, past actions or claims brought against us relating to the disposal of hazardous materials at several sites and there can be no assurance that we will not have to expend material amounts to remediate the consequences of any such disposal in the future. Further, under environmental laws, an owner or lessee of real estate may be liable for the costs of removal or remediation of certain hazardous or toxic substances located on or in or emanating from such property, as well as related costs of investigation and property damage. Such laws often impose liability without regard to whether the owner or lessee knew of, or was responsible for, the presence of such hazardous or toxic substances. There can be no assurance that our acquired or leased locations have been operated in compliance with environmental laws and regulations or that future uses or conditions will not result in the imposition of liability upon us under such laws or expose us to third-party actions such as tort suits. Refer to Note 11, “Commitments and Contingencies”, of our Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion.
ITEM 4. MINE SAF ETY DISCLOSURES
Not Applicable.
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PART II
Text extracted from the filing as submitted to EDGAR. Formatting, tables and exhibits are simplified for reading; the original document is authoritative for anything you rely on.