Englander Settles With Home Meridian Re: Flame Retardants in Furniture

Posted: 09/10/2014  browse the blog archive
Englander Settles With Home Meridian Re: Flame Retardants in Furniture

Peter Englander has negotiated a settlement with Home Meridian International, Inc. ("Home Meridian") regarding alleged violations of Proposition 65.  Englander alleged that Home Meridian sold padded upholstered furniture containing the flame retardant tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCPP) without the requisite health hazard warning.  TDCPP is known to the State of California to cause cancer, and under Proposition 65 companies offering products for sale in California that contain TDCPP must provide a “clear and reasonable” warning.

In addition to $67,000 in civil penalties, Home Meridian has agreed to sell its existing inventory with Proposition 65 warnings and to sell only reformulated furniture after November 15, 2014, that is, furniture with no detectable levels of TDCPP.  Should Home Meridian provide written certification that all furniture sold in California after September 1, 2014, qualifies as reformulated, Englander has agreed to waive a portion of the civil penalties.

For more details, please see the case summary on our website: Englander v. Home Meridian International, Inc.

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.