Brimer v. Portmeirion Group PLC

Posted: 12/20/2007  browse the case archive

In the enforcement action Brimer v. Royal Doulton USA, Inc., et al., the Honorable Nancy L. Davis approved a Consent Judgment on December 20, 2007.  The Consent Judgment included an opt-in program which provided citizen enforcer Russell Brimer with the ability to send 60-Day Notices of Violation to each entity that submitted an Opt-In Stipulation.  On April 29, 2008, settling defendant Portmeirion Group PLC and its direct and indirect subsidiaries Portmeirion Potteries Limited, Portmeirion Enterprises Limited, Naugatuck Triangle Corporation, and Portmeirion USA (collectively “Portmeirion”) opted-in to the Consent Judgment.  In this matter, Brimer alleged that Portmeirion, along with twenty-three other opt-in defendants, sold cups and other ceramic containers 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, Portmeirion and the other defendants agreed not to sell any cups or other ceramic containers in California after December 20, 2007, unless the cups and ceramic containers comply with the reformulation standards set forth in Section 2.2 of the Consent Judgment when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Portmeirion also agreed to place Proposition 65 health hazard warnings on the ceramicware it did not reformulate. 

Based on Portmeirion’s commitment to reformulation and its agreement to voluntarily subscribe to the terms of the Consent Judgment to avoid the need for litigation, Brimer waived the application of civil penalties in this case.  Portmeirion, along with the rest of the other opt-in defendants, paid $7,500 in compensation to whistleblower Brimer and his counsel in resolving this matter in the public interest.

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