26. Legal Risks
Legal proceedings currently considered to involve material risks are outlined below. The legal proceedings referred to do not necessarily represent an exhaustive list:
Carbon Monoxide Pipeline from Dormagen to Krefeld-Uerdingen
The carbon monoxide pipeline is intended to connect the chemical production sites at Dormagen (Germany) and Krefeld-Uerdingen (Germany) and complement the network already existing between Dormagen and Leverkusen (Germany). The aim is to ensure a safe and reliable supply of carbon monoxide to and across all sites. Although the pipeline was almost completed by the end of year 2009, it cannot currently be brought into operation because of ongoing court proceedings. Following confirmation by the Düsseldorf Administrative Court in the year 2011 that there were no grounds to challenge the material aspects of the planning permission decision, in particular the safety of the materials used and the legal conformity of the relevant pipeline act (Rohrleitungsgesetz), the plaintiffs and the regional government against which legal proceedings had been instituted lodged appeals before the Higher Administrative Court for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Münster (Higher Administrative Court). In the year 2014, the Higher Administrative Court raised no objections in principle to the safety and routing of the pipeline, but questioned the constitutionality of the pipeline act which forms the legal basis for the project. On December 21, 2016, Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court dismissed the corresponding constitutionality question referred to it by the Higher Administrative Court as inadmissible and confirmed the legal opinion of the Covestro Group. Subsequently, the Higher Administrative Court again considered the facts of the appeal and, in a decision rendered on August 31, 2020, dismissed the actions against the planning permission decision. In addition, the Higher Administrative Court rejected an appeal against its ruling. The plaintiffs then filed a complaint against the denial of leave to appeal with the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig in February 2021. The German Federal Constitutional Court dismissed the denial of leave to appeal on December 14, 2021. The judgment by the Higher Administrative Court is therefore final. In rulings dated February 28, 2023, May 2, 2023, and June 13, 2023, the Düsseldorf Administrative Court dismissed the only remaining actions brought by two private plaintiffs, Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland e.V. (BUND), and four cities/municipalities against the planning permission decision by reference to the final ruling of the Higher Administrative Court and did not allow an appeal. The application for permission to appeal, which was nonetheless possible, was submitted by the due date by the city of Hilden alone. The decision of the Higher Administrative Court in this matter is still pending.
Civil Class Action Lawsuits over Diisocyanates (in the United States)
On July 9, 2018, Covestro LLC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (United States) – as one of numerous other defendants – was served the first of now 12 class action lawsuits initiated by various U.S. diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) and toluene diisocyanate (TDI) customers. The plaintiffs allege that the defendants have violated various provisions of the Sherman Antitrust Act since January 1, 2015, by acting in coordination to limit production capacities of MDI and TDI and, at the same time, raising prices for these products in the market. On October 3, 2018, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ruled that all class action lawsuits in pretrial proceedings would be centralized in the District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Based in essence on the same assertions and the violations of federal consumer protection and antitrust laws allegedly resulting from them, the attorney general of the state of Mississippi filed a separate civil complaint against Covestro LLC and numerous other defendants on behalf of the state and its citizens in September 2019. In November 2020, the parties suspended these lawsuits without prejudice for a period of two years. Owing to the time which has passed, the suspension of the limitation period agreed at the time with regard to the claims of the state and its citizens expired again in November 2022. Covestro currently considers these claims without merit and will therefore use all legal means to defend itself against these allegations – also in light of the official conclusion in November 2018 of the six-month investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into possible anticompetitive practices in relation to MDI. The case is currently still in the discovery phase.