As You Sow v. Chemcentral Corporation, et al.

The San Francisco Superior Court entered a judgment in the Proposition 65 enforcement action brought by private enforcer As You Sow ("AYS") against janitorial supply company, Chemcentral Corporation. The January 13, 1997, stipulated judgment resolves AYS's allegations that Chemcentral sold drums of bulk chemicals containing more than 15 known carcinogens listed pursuant to Proposition 65, including benzene and formaldehyde, and five chemicals, including ethylene glycol, that are known to the State of California to cause reproductive harm or birth defects, without providing the necessary health hazard warnings.

The Court's judgment requires Chemcentral to provide health hazard warnings and revise the MSDS included with each drum sold by the manufacturer to include reference to the carcinogenic or reproductive hazards associated with exposures to the identified listed chemicals. The judgment further provides for settlement payments totaling $25,000, divided between statutory penalties of $10,000, where $7,500 is to be paid to the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and the remaining $2,500 retained by AYS. Chemcentral is also required to pay the non-profit enforcement group $15,000 as restitution in lieu of civil penalties. This restitution payment will go to AYS' Environmental Education Fund. The judgment further requires that Chemcentral reimburse AYS for its reasonable attorneys' fees and costs in the amount of $7,585.