Brimer v. Franklin Sports, Inc.

On November 1, 2011, citizen enforcer Russell Brimer and settling defendant Franklin Sports, Inc. ("Franklin"), entered into an out-of-court Settlement Agreement, which resolved Brimer's allegations that Franklin sold baseball uniform belts composed of material containing the heavy metal lead in the State of California without providing the health hazard warnings required by Proposition 65.

As part of the settlement, Franklin agreed not to sell any belts in California after November 18, 2011, unless the belts comply with the reformulation standard set forth in Section 2.1 of the Agreement when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Should Franklin adopt the definition of "Lead Free" as used in Section 3.3 of the Agreement by November 18, 2011, Brimer agreed to credit a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $37,000, 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.