Brimer Negotiates Settlement with Pro Performance and Sports Authority Re: DEHP and Lead in Flag Football Sets

Posted: 09/08/2014  browse the blog archive
Brimer Negotiates Settlement with Pro Performance and Sports Authority Re: DEHP and Lead in Flag Football Sets

After years of negotiation, Brimer has finally entered into a settlement agreement with Pro Performance Sports, LLC and The Sports Authority, which was approved by a judge from the San Francisco County Court on August 27, 2014.

Brimer alleged that Pro Performance and The Sports Authority sold flag football sets containing di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) and lead in the State of California without providing the required health hazard warnings.  DEHP and lead are known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, and other reproductive harm, and companies offering products for sale in California that contain lead and/or DEHP must provide consumers with a “clear and reasonable” health hazard warning.

As part of the settlement, Pro Performance and Sports Authority agreed not to manufacture or order any flag football sets in California after December 31, 2015, unless the flag football sets contain less than .1 percent DEHP and less than 100 parts per million of lead content.  All flag football sets still in Pro Performance or Sports Authority’s inventories will be sold with warnings provided.  Pro Performance and Sports Authority also agreed to notify their vendors of the reformulation standards and instruct them to label or return the flag football sets currently existing in inventory.  They will also pay $30,000 in civil penalties, 75 percent of which go to the State of California to benefit public health and the environment.

The Chanler Group represents citizen enforcers who, acting in the public interest, commence actions against businesses offering products for sale in California that contain chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm without first providing the health hazard warning required by Proposition 65. Citizen enforcers bringing Proposition 65 actions in the public interest may obtain a Court Judgment imposing civil penalties, an injunction requiring reformulation of products, and/or provision of health hazard warnings. The Chanler Group has represented citizen enforcers of Proposition 65 for more than twenty years.