ITEM 3 - Legal Proceedings
The Company is party to various claims, legal actions and complaints, including product liability litigation, arising in the ordinary course of business.
On April 19, 2006, a legal action was filed against the Company in the United States District Court, Southern District of California (Drimmer v. WD-40 Company). After several of the plaintiffs factual claims were dismissed by way of motion, the plaintiff filed an amended complaint on September 20, 2006, seeking class action status and alleging that the Company misrepresented that its 2000 Flushes Bleach and 2000 Flushes Blue Plus Bleach automatic toilet bowl cleaners (ATBCs) are safe for plumbing systems and unlawfully omitted to advise consumers regarding the allegedly damaging effect the use of the ATBCs has on toilet parts made of plastic and rubber. On August 24, 2007 the Company successfully defeated the plaintiffs attempt to have the case certified as a class action. The plaintiff has petitioned for permission to appeal the District Courts decision and the Company has opposed the petition. If the plaintiff is successful in an appeal and class action certification is granted in this aforementioned legal action, it is reasonably possible that the outcome could have a material adverse effect on the operating results, financial position and cash flows of the Company. There is not sufficient information to estimate the Companys exposure at this time.
The Company has been named as a defendant in an increasing number of lawsuits brought by a growing group of attorneys on behalf of individual plaintiffs who assert that exposure to products that allegedly contain benzene is a cause of certain cancers. The Company is one of many defendants in these legal proceedings whose products are alleged to contain benzene. However, the Company specifies that its suppliers provide constituent ingredients free of benzene, and the Company believes its products have always been formulated without containing benzene. Except for self-insured retention amounts applicable to each separately filed lawsuit, the Company expects that the benzene lawsuits will be adequately covered by insurance and will not have a material impact on the Companys financial condition or results of operations. The Company is vigorously defending these lawsuits in an effort to demonstrate conclusively that its products do not contain benzene, and that they have not contained benzene in prior years. The Company is unable to assess the expected cost of defense of these lawsuits in future periods. If the number of benzene lawsuits filed against the Company continues to increase, it is reasonably possible that such costs of defense may materially affect the Companys results of operations and cash flows in future periods.