Brimer v. The Manual Woodworkers & Weavers, Inc.

On October 29, 2011, the Alameda County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Brimer v. The Manual Woodworkers & Weavers, Inc., which resolved citizen enforcer Russell Brimer's allegations that the defendant The Manual Woodworkers & Weavers, Inc. ("Manual Woodworkers") sold tote bags that exposed users to the heavy metal lead in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Manual Woodworkers agreed not to sell any tote bags in California after June 30, 2011, unless the tote bags are sold or shipped with Proposition 65 warnings pursuant to Section 2.1 of the Consent Judgment, or the tote bags comply with the reformulation standards set forth in Section 2.3 of the Consent Judgment when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Should Manual Woodworkers eliminate the need for Proposition 65 warnings on the tote bags by December 15, 2011, Brimer agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $36,200, 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.