Fiskars Certifies That Three-Quarters of its Tools With Grips are DEHP-Free
The Chanler Group has received Fiskars Brands, Inc.’s certification, required by the settlement agreement with TCG client John Moore, that 75% of Fiskars’ tools with grips offered for sale in California have been reformulated to contain less than 0.1% of DEHP. As a result, the final civil penalty of $60,000, which Fiskars agreed to in the settlement, will be waived. The penalty waiver provision of the settlement provided an incentive for Fiskars to promptly reformulate their products to be free of DEHP. DEHP is a toxic phthalate chemical known to the State of California to cause reproductive harm.
Fiskars Brands is a publically traded, multinational holding corporation that manufactures common consumer products such as scissors, garden tools, crafting tools, and knives, whose brands include Gerber, Craftsman, and Buster, as well as Fiskars. John Moore found several Fiskars Brands products to contain DEHP, including garden tools and crafting tools, and served Fiskars Brands with a 60-Day Notice of Violation on October 28, 2011. Fiskars Brands entered into a settlement agreement on February 20, 2013, for a total of $155,000 in penalties and attorneys’ fees, $60,000 of which would be waived if a certification of reformulation were provided by July 15, 2013.
The Chanler Group frequently includes such “reformulation incentives” in its settlements as part of the firm’s work in effectuating change for a cleaner environment and safer consumer products.
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.