Brimer v. SBI Incorporated

On March 18, 2011, the Alameda County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Brimer v. SBI Incorporated, which resolved citizen enforcer Russell Brimer's allegations that the defendant SBI Incorporated ("SBI") sold watering gun/nozzles with grips containing the heavy metal lead in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, SBI agreed not to sell any watering gun/nozzles with grips in California after December 20, 2010, unless each accessible component of the watering gun/nozzles contains no more than 100 parts per million of lead when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $43,500, 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.