Brimer v. SA&E International Bags & Accessories LLC

On December 6, 2011, the Marin County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Brimer v. SA&E International Bags & Accessories LLC, which resolved citizen enforcer Russell Brimer's allegations that the defendant SA&E International Bags & Accessories LLC ("SA&E") sold handbags containing the heavy metal lead and the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate ("DEHP") in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings. Additionally, Brimer alleged that defendants Tuesday Morning Corporation ("Tuesday Morning") and Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation ("Burlington") distributed and/or sold handbags containing lead and DEHP in California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, SA&E agreed not to sell any handbags in California after November 1, 2011, unless each accessible component of the handbags conforms to the reformulation standards set forth in Sections 2.4 and 2.5 of the Consent Judgment; or the handbags bear Proposition 65 warnings. Should Brimer discover that the handbags have been distributed by S&E or sold by Tuesday Morning and Burlington in sales volumes materially different than those previously identified, then the defendants shall be liable for an additional penalty.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $78,000, 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.