Brimer v. McIlhenny Company, et al.

The Honorable Ronald E. Quidachay of the San Francisco Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment on May 1, 2006, which resolved citizen enforcer Russell Brimer's allegations that the defendant McIlhenny Company ("McIlhenny") sold mugs and other glass and ceramic tableware with colored artwork on the exterior surface containing the heavy metal lead and/or cadmium in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, McIlhenny agreed not to sell any glass or ceramic tableware in California after August 29, 2005, unless the tableware has Proposition 65 warnings provided or complies with reformulation standards when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Should McIlhenny reformulate 90 percent of its products by January 15, 2007, Brimer agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $52,750, to be divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to citizen enforcer Brimer and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.