Brimer v. America West Airlines, Inc., et al.

On October 22, 2007, the Alameda County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Brimer v. America West Airlines, Inc., et al., which resolved citizen enforcer Russell Brimer's allegations that the defendants, America West Airlines, Inc., and America West Company Store, LLC (collectively "America West"), sold mugs and other ceramic containers with colored artwork containing the heavy metal lead on the exterior in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, America West agreed not to sell any ceramic containers in California after April 1, 2007 unless the ceramic products have Proposition 65 warnings or contain no more than 0.06 percent of lead in decorating materials and no more than .02 percent of lead in lip-and-rim areas when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of $16,000, to be divided between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to whistleblower Brimer and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.