Item 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

Asbestos Matters

The Company has been named as a defendant in lawsuits alleging personal injury as a result of exposure to asbestos allegedly integrated into certain Carrier products or business premises. While the Company has never manufactured asbestos and no longer incorporates it into any currently-manufactured products, certain products that the Company no longer manufactures contained components incorporating asbestos. A substantial majority of these asbestos-related claims have been dismissed without payment or have been covered in full or in part by insurance or other forms of indemnity. Additional cases were litigated and settled without any insurance reimbursement. The amounts involved in asbestos-related claims were not material individually or in the aggregate in any period. The amounts recorded for asbestos-related liabilities are based on currently available information and assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable and are made with input from outside actuarial experts. These amounts are undiscounted and exclude the Company’s legal fees to defend the asbestos claims, which are expensed as incurred. In addition, the Company has recorded insurance recovery receivables for probable asbestos-related recoveries.

Aqueous Film Forming Foam Litigation

As of December 31, 2025, the Company, Kidde-Fenwal, Inc. ("KFI") and others have been named as defendants in more than 17,000 lawsuits filed in United States state or federal courts and a single case in Canada alleging that the historic use of Aqueous Film Forming Foam ("AFFF") caused personal injuries and damage to property and water supplies. In December 2018, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation transferred and consolidated all AFFF cases pending in the U.S. federal courts against the Company, KFI and others to the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina (the "MDL Proceedings"). Individual plaintiffs in the MDL Proceedings generally seek damages for alleged personal injuries, medical monitoring, diminution in property value and injunctive relief to remediate alleged contamination of water supplies. U.S. state, municipal and water utility plaintiffs in the MDL Proceedings generally seek damages and costs related to the remediation of public property and water supplies.

AFFF is a firefighting foam, developed beginning in the late 1960s pursuant to U.S. military specification, used to extinguish certain types of hydrocarbon-fueled fires. The lawsuits identified above relate to Kidde Fire Fighting, Inc., which owned the "National Foam" business that manufactured AFFF for sale to government (including the U.S. federal government) and non-government customers in the U.S. at a single facility located in West Chester, Pennsylvania (the "Pennsylvania Site"). Kidde Fire Fighting, Inc. was acquired by a UTC subsidiary in 2005 and merged into KFI in 2007. In 2013, KFI divested the AFFF businesses to an unrelated third party. The Company acquired KFI as part of the Separation in April 2020.

The key components that contribute to AFFF's fire-extinguishing capabilities are known as fluorosurfactants. Neither the Company, nor KFI, nor any of the Company's subsidiaries involved in the AFFF litigation manufactured fluorosurfactants. Instead, the National Foam business purchased these substances from unrelated third parties for use in manufacturing AFFF. Plaintiffs in the MDL Proceedings allege that the fluorosurfactants used by various manufacturers in producing AFFF contained, or over time degraded into, compounds known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (referred to collectively as "PFAS"), including perflourooctanesulfonic acid ("PFOS") and perflourooctanoic acid ("PFOA"). Plaintiffs further allege that, as a result of the use of AFFF, PFOS and PFOA were released into the environment and, in some instances, ultimately reached drinking water supplies.

Plaintiffs in the MDL Proceedings have named multiple defendants, including suppliers of chemicals and raw materials used to manufacture fluorosurfactants, fluorosurfactant manufacturers and AFFF manufacturers. The defendants in the MDL Proceedings moved for summary judgment on the government contractor defense, which potentially applies to AFFF sold to or used by the U.S. government. After full briefing and oral argument, on September 16, 2022, the MDL court declined to enter summary judgment for the defendants. The defense, however, remains available at any trial in which it would apply.

On May 14, 2023, KFI filed a voluntary petition with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the “Bankruptcy Court”) seeking relief under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, after the Company determined that it would not provide financial support to KFI going forward other than ensuring KFI has access to services necessary for the effective operation of its business. As a result, all litigation against KFI was automatically stayed. By agreement, all AFFF-related litigation against the Company, its other subsidiaries and RTX also was stayed. On November 21, 2023, the Bankruptcy Court ordered certain parties, including the Company, to participate in mediation sessions with respect to claims that might be asserted by and against it in the bankruptcy proceedings.

Following the conclusion of these mediation sessions in October 2024, the Company entered into a Settlement and Plan Support Agreement which contemplates that the Company will subsequently enter into three distinct settlement agreements (collectively, the “Proposed Settlement Agreements”) with KFI, the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors appointed in KFI’s bankruptcy case (the “Committee”) and the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee (the “MDL PEC”) appointed in the MDL Proceedings.

The first of the Proposed Settlement Agreements relates to claims that the Company is responsible for liabilities arising from KFI’s manufacture or sale of AFFF (“Estate Claims Settlement”). Upon Bankruptcy Court approval, the Estate Claims Settlement will permanently resolve all present and future claims that the Company is responsible for any liabilities of KFI, including all liabilities arising from KFI’s manufacture and sale of AFFF. The second and third of the Proposed Settlement Agreements release a very substantial amount of current and future direct claims against the Company (the “Direct Claims Settlements”). Direct claims allege that UTC, which indirectly owned KFI’s AFFF business for eight years, engaged in conduct independent of KFI that caused harm to AFFF claimants. The Company agreed to indemnify UTC for these direct claims when it was spun-off from UTC. Upon approval by the MDL Court, the Direct Claims Settlements resolve and enjoin all current and future AFFF-related direct claims against the Company by participating public water providers and airports. Non-settling parties may still assert direct AFFF-related claims, although we expect a vast majority of public water providers and airports will participate in the Direct Claims Settlements.

As part of the Proposed Settlement Agreements, the Company will pay $615 million in cash over five years, 100% of the net sale proceeds from its sale of KFI’s assets to Pacific Avenue Capital Partners, which are estimated to be $115 million, and contribute the right to recover proceeds under certain of its insurance policies. The Company will be entitled to receive up to $2.4 billion of proceeds from those insurance policies and will contribute the first $125 million of such proceeds as additional consideration in the Direct Claims Settlements. The Company also will be entitled to any earnouts payable to KFI under the KFI sale agreement. The Company expects insurance proceeds it receives in the future, in the aggregate, to cover the amount paid under the Proposed Settlement Agreements. As a result of the Proposed Settlement Agreements, the Company recorded a liability in the amount of $565 million during the year ended December 31, 2024. The amount recognized is in addition to liabilities of $50 million that the Company recorded upon the deconsolidation of KFI on May 14, 2023. As of December 31, 2025, the Company has not recorded any amounts associated with expected insurance proceeds.

The Company and KFI believe that they have meritorious defenses to the remaining AFFF claims. Given the numerous factual, scientific and legal issues to be resolved relating to these claims, the Company is unable to assess the probability of liability or to reasonably estimate a range of possible loss at this time. There can be no assurance that any such future exposure will not be material in any period.

On November 14, 2024, KFI filed the chapter 11 plan of liquidation (as may be further amended, restated, supplemented, waived, or otherwise modified from time to time, the "Chapter 11 Plan"), which incorporates the Estate Claims Settlement, provides for the treatment of the various creditor classes, and establishes wind-down provisions, among other things, and the disclosure statement for the Chapter 11 Plan (as may be further amended, restated, supplemented, waived, or otherwise modified from time to time, the "Disclosure Statement"). A hearing to approve the Disclosure Statement was held in June 2025. A revised and supplemented Disclosure Statement was filed on August 15, 2025. The Bankruptcy Court held a hearing on that statement on October 6, 2025. Following that hearing, the Bankruptcy Court ordered that the revised and supplemented Disclosure Statement be modified further in two areas, which the parties are addressing.

Other

We have commitments and contingent liabilities related to legal proceedings, self-insurance programs and matters arising out of the ordinary course of business. Additionally, we are routinely a defendant in, party to or otherwise subject to many pending and threatened legal actions, claims, disputes and proceedings. These matters are often based on alleged violations of contract, product liability, warranty, regulatory, environmental, health and safety, employment, intellectual property, tax and other laws. In some of these proceedings, claims for substantial monetary damages are asserted against us and could result in fines, penalties, compensatory or treble damages or non-monetary relief. We do not believe that these matters will have a material adverse effect upon our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.

A further discussion of our potential regulatory liabilities can be found under the headings "Business" and "Risk Factors" in this Annual Report.