Brimer v. Test-Rite Products Corp.

The Alameda County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Brimer v. Test-Rite Products Corp. on January 4, 2013, which resolved citizen enforcer Russell Brimer's allegations that the defendant Test-Rite Products Corp. ("Test-Rite") sold trolley jack handles with grips containing the heavy metal lead and tools with grips containing lead and the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate ("DEHP") in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement agreement, Test-Rite agreed not to sell any trolley jack handles or tools with grips in California after November 1, 2012, unless the trolley jack handles and tools contain less than 100 parts per million of lead and less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies or have Proposition 65 warnings provided. Should Test-Rite eliminate the need for Proposition 65 warnings on the trolley jack handles by August 31, 2013, Brimer agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied. Additionally, Test-Rite shall make a payment to the Silent Spring Institute, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to understanding the links between environmental chemicals (including lead and DEHP) and reproductive and developmental harm.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $165,000, to be 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.