Brimer v. U.S. Trading Co., Inc., et al.

Whistleblower Russell Brimer's allegations regarding the defendant, U.S. Trading Co., Inc. ("U.S. Trading"), were resolved on December 21, 2007, when the Honorable David Hunter granted the parties' motion to approve the Consent Judgment in Brimer v. U.S. Trading Co., Inc., et al. In this matter, Brimer alleged that U.S. Trading sold jars and other glassware intended for the storage, serving, and consumption of food or beverages containing colored artwork containing the heavy metal lead on the exterior without providing the requisite health warnings in California.

As part of the settlement, U.S. Trading agreed not to sell any jars or other glassware in California after October 19, 2007, unless the jars and glassware have Proposition 65 warnings provided or contain no more than .06 percent of lead and no detectable lead in the lip-and-rim area when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $13,000, to be divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and compensation to citizen enforcer Brimer and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.