Brimer v. Flambeau, Inc.

The Honorable James McBride of the San Francisco County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in the enforcement action Brimer v. Nordic Group of Companies, Ltd., et al.,  on June 19, 2012.  This resolved citizen enforcer Russell Brimer’s allegations that the defendant Flambeau, Inc. (“Flambeau”) sold art tote bags containing the phthalate chemical di-n-butyl phthalate (“DBP”) and the heavy metal lead in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings. 

As part of the settlement, Flambeau agreed not to sell any art tote bags in California, unless the bags contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DBP and less than 100 parts per million of lead when analyzed using state and federally approved testing methodologies.  Due to Flambeau’s commitment to reformulation, Brimer agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.   

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $20,000, 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.