Item 4. Controls and Procedures.
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Item 4. Controls and Procedures.
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, has evaluated the design and effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures, as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) as of the end of the period covered in this Quarterly Report. Based on such evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that, as of March 31, 2023, the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures were effective to provide reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is (i) recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the rules and forms of the SEC, and (ii) accumulated and communicated to management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow for timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
There have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting during the quarter ended March 31, 2023, that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
PART II – OTHE****R INFORMATION
Item 1. Legal Proceedings.
On December 26, 2018, Vitol Americas Corp. (“Vitol”) filed a lawsuit in the 80th District Court of Harris County (the “District Court”), Texas against Targa Channelview LLC, then a subsidiary of the Company (“Targa Channelview”), seeking recovery of $129.0 million in payments made to Targa Channelview, additional monetary damages, attorneys’ fees and costs. Vitol alleges that Targa Channelview breached an agreement, dated December 27, 2015, for crude oil and condensate between Targa Channelview and Noble Americas Corp. (the “Splitter Agreement”), which provided for Targa Channelview to construct a crude oil and condensate splitter (the “Splitter”) adjacent to a barge dock owned by Targa Channelview to provide services contemplated by the Splitter Agreement. In January 2018, Vitol acquired Noble Americas Corp. and on December 23, 2018, Vitol voluntarily elected to terminate the Splitter Agreement claiming that Targa Channelview failed to timely achieve start-up of the Splitter. Vitol’s lawsuit also alleges Targa Channelview made a series of misrepresentations about the capability of the barge dock that would service crude oil and condensate volumes to be processed by the Splitter and Splitter products. Vitol seeks return of $129.0 million in payments made to Targa Channelview prior to the start-up of the Splitter, as well as additional damages. On the same date that Vitol filed its lawsuit, Targa Channelview filed a lawsuit against Vitol seeking a judicial determination that Vitol’s sole and exclusive remedy was Vitol’s voluntarily termination of the Splitter Agreement and, as a result, Vitol was not entitled to the return of any prior payments under the Splitter Agreement or other damages as alleged. Targa also seeks recovery of its attorneys’ fees and costs in the lawsuit.
On October 15, 2020, the District Court awarded Vitol $129.0 million (plus interest) following a bench trial. In addition, the District Court awarded Vitol $10.5 million in damages for losses and demurrage on crude oil that Vitol purchased for start-up efforts. The Company appealed the award in the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston, Texas. In October 2020, we sold Targa Channelview but, under the agreements governing the sale, we retained the liabilities associated with the Vitol proceedings. On September 13, 2022, the Fourteenth Court of Appeals upheld the trial court’s judgment in part with regard to the return of Vitol’s prior payments, but modified the judgment to delete Vitol’s ability to recover any damages related to losses or demurrage on crude oil. We have filed a petition for review with the Supreme Court of Texas, and the appeal remains pending. The cumulative amount of interest on the award through March 31, 2023, if accrued, would have been approximately $45.8 million.
Additional information required for this item is provided in Note 12 – Contingencies, under the heading “Legal Proceedings” included in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included under Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report, which is incorporated by reference into this item.
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