DiPirro v. Dell, Inc., Gateway, Inc., Hewlett Packard Company, and Genica Corporation, et al.

On March 20, 2008, the Alameda County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in DiPirro v. Gateway, Inc., et al., which resolved citizen enforcer Michael DiPirro allegations that defendants Dell, Inc., Gateway, Inc., Hewlett Packard Company, and Genica Corporation ("Defendants") sold motherboards with solder containing the heavy metal lead in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, the Defendants agreed not to sell any motherboards in California after December 31, 2007, unless the motherboards are shipped with Proposition 65 warnings or contain less than .1% lead by weight in each solder material (unless the material is embedded in a manner that a consumer or worker would not come into contact with the lead during reasonably foreseeable use). In a good faith effort to inform consumers about the risk of exposure to lead from motherboards manufactured before December 31, 2007, each Defendant commits to provide Proposition 65 warnings on its website for three years and will notify its contracted service providers about the potential exposure to lead. Due to the Defendants' commitment to reformulation and cooperation during the settlement process, DiPirro agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $515,000, 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.