DiPirro v. American Hakko Products, Inc., et al.

Citizen enforcer Michael DiPirro and settling party American Hakko Products, Inc. ("Hakko") entered into an out-of-court Settlement Agreement on June 18, 1999, resolving DiPirro's allegations that Hakko sold products containing the heavy metal lead in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Hakko agreed not to sell any of the covered products in California after January 1, 2000, unless the products have the Proposition 65 warnings provided. Additionally, Hakko shall revise its Material Safety Data Sheets to include a health hazard warning.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $39,000 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 DiPirro and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.