Brimer v. Genesco Incorporated

On August 4, 2011, the Alameda County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Brimer v. Genesco, which resolved citizen enforcer Russell Brimer's allegations that the defendant, Genesco Inc. ("Genesco"), sold handbags containing the heavy metal lead in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Genesco agreed not to sell any handbags in California after April 15, 2011, unless each accessible component of the handbags contained less than 200 parts per million of lead when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Should Genesco comply with these heightened standards by October 15th, 2011, Brimer agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $47,000, 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.