Brimer v. Howard Berger Company Inc.

On May 11, 2011, the San Francisco County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Brimer v. Howard Berger Company, Inc.; et al., which resolved citizen enforcer Russell Brimer's allegations that the defendant Howard Berger Company Inc. ("Howard") sold work lights with clamp handles containing the heavy metal lead in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Howard agreed not to sell any work lights with clamp handles in California after February 4, 2011, unless the work lights contain no more than 100 parts per million of lead when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Howard also agreed to place Proposition 65 warnings on any work lights remaining in its retailers' inventory that do not meet reformulation standards. Brimer agreed to credit Howard with a portion of the civil penalties for Howard's compliance with these heightened standards.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $66,000, 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.