Contingencies |
6 Months Ended |
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Aug. 03, 2024 | |
| Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] | |
| Contingencies | Contingencies On April 28, 2024, a tornado destroyed our Dollar Tree distribution center in Marietta, Oklahoma. Based on the significant damage sustained by the facility, the inventory contained in the facility and the facility itself are not salvageable. We incurred losses totaling $117.0 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2024, consisting of $70.0 million related to damaged inventory and $47.0 million related to property and equipment. These losses were fully offset by insurance receivables. As of August 3, 2024, we have received insurance proceeds totaling $70.8 million, including $45.0 million related to damaged inventory and $25.8 million related to damaged property and equipment. We expect that the remaining inventory losses and property and equipment losses will be fully offset by insurance recoveries under our distribution center insurance policies.
Expected insurance recoveries for business interruption and redevelopment costs greater than the losses recognized cannot be estimated at this time.
The foregoing losses and expected insurance recoveries are based on information currently available to us. We continue to assess these estimates and will recognize any changes to these estimates in the period(s) in which they are determined. The final losses, insurance recoveries and net charges could vary from these estimates.
Legal Proceedings
We are defendants in ordinary, routine litigation or proceedings incidental to our business, including employment-related matters; infringement of intellectual property rights; personal injury/wrongful death claims; real estate matters; environmental and safety issues; and product safety matters. Legal proceedings may also include class, collective, representative and large cases and arbitrations, including those described below. We will vigorously defend ourselves in these matters. We do not believe that any of these matters will, individually or in the aggregate, have a material effect on our business, financial condition, or liquidity. We cannot give assurance, however, that one or more of these matters will not have a material effect on our results of operations for the quarter or year in which they are reserved or resolved.
We assess our legal proceedings monthly and reserves are established if a loss is probable and the amount of such loss can be reasonably estimated. Many, if not substantially all, of our legal proceedings are subject to significant uncertainties and, therefore, determining the likelihood of a loss and the measurement of any loss can be complex and subject to judgment. With respect to the matters noted below where we have determined that a loss is reasonably possible but not probable, we are unable to reasonably estimate the amount or range of the possible loss at this time due to the inherent difficulty of predicting the outcome of and uncertainties regarding legal proceedings. Our assessments are based on estimates and assumptions that have been deemed reasonable by management, but that may prove to be incomplete or inaccurate, and unanticipated events and circumstances may occur that might cause us to change those estimates and assumptions. Management’s assessment of legal proceedings could change because of future determinations or the discovery of facts which are not presently known. Accordingly, the ultimate costs of resolving these proceedings may be substantially higher or lower than currently estimated.
Active Matters
Talc Product Matters
Multiple personal injury lawsuits are pending in state court in Illinois, New York, Texas, and New Jersey against Dollar Tree, Family Dollar or both alleging that certain talc products that we sold caused cancer. The plaintiffs seek compensatory, punitive and exemplary damages, damages for loss of consortium, and attorneys’ fees and costs. Although we have been able to resolve previous talc lawsuits against us without material loss, given the inherent uncertainties of litigation there can be no assurances regarding the outcome of pending or future cases. Future costs to litigate these cases are not known but may be material, and it is uncertain whether our costs will be covered by insurance. In addition, although we have indemnification rights against our vendors in several of these cases, it is uncertain whether the vendors will have the financial ability to fulfill their obligations to us.
Acetaminophen Matters
Since August 2022, more than 50 personal injury cases have been filed in federal court against Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, or both, on behalf of minors alleging that their mothers took acetaminophen while pregnant, that the acetaminophen interfered with fetal development such that plaintiffs were born with autism and/or ADHD, and that we knew or should have known of the danger, had a duty to warn and failed to include appropriate warnings on the product labels. The plaintiffs seek compensatory, punitive and/or exemplary damages, restitution and disgorgement, economic damages, and attorneys’ fees and costs. These cases, which originated in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas, along with other cases against many other defendants, were consolidated into multi-district court litigation in the Southern District of New York. The court disqualified plaintiffs’ experts and, on that basis dismissed all the cases which had been filed at the time of that decision, including all cases currently filed against us. The dismissal has been appealed to the Second Circuit by plaintiffs.
Resolved Matters
DC 202-Related Matters
As previously reported by the company on its Current Report on Form 8-K filed February 26, 2024, its Annual Report on Form 10-K filed March 20, 2024 and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed June 5, 2024, Family Dollar Stores, LLC (“Family Dollar”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, has resolved a number of related matters connected to a past rodent infestation at Family Dollar’s West Memphis, Arkansas distribution center (“DC 202”) and recorded charges of $56.7 million in fiscal 2023 with respect to such matters. We do not believe any remaining matters associated with DC 202 will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or liquidity.
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