Brimer v. Chronicle Books LLC; Paul Frank Industries, Inc.

Posted: 06/13/2011  browse the case archive

On June 13, 2011, the San Francisco County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Brimer v. Chronicle Books LLC; Paul Frank Industries, Inc., which resolved citizen enforcer Russell Brimer's allegations that defendants Chronicle Books LLC ("Chronicle") and Paul Frank Industries, Inc. ("Paul Frank") sold character journals containing the heavy metal lead on the exterior journal surfaces in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Chronicle and Paul Frank agreed not to sell any character journals in California after February 18, 2011, unless the journals contain no more than 300 parts per million of lead when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies or have Proposition 65 warnings provided. By July 18, 2011, all journals sold by Chronicle and Paul Frank shall comply with the reformulation standards. Additionally, Chronicle and Paul Frank agreed to notify their vendors and request that the journals either be labeled with Proposition 65 warnings or returned. Should Chronicle and Paul Frank participate in the optional penalty reductions described in Section 4.2 of the Consent Judgment, Brimer agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $60,100, to be divided therein 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.

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