Brimer v. Golden Orchid, Ltd., et al.

On December 12, 2008, the San Francisco County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Brimer v. Golden Orchid, Ltd., which resolved citizen enforcer Russell Brimer's allegations that the defendant Golden Orchid, Ltd. ("Golden Orchid") sold glass soy sauce bottles and other glass-bottled products with colored artwork containing the heavy metal lead on the exterior surface in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Golden Orchid agreed not to sell any glass-bottled products in California after May 1, 2008, unless the bottles comply with the reformulation standards of Section 2.2(b) of the Consent Judgment when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $19,600, 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.