DiPirro v. Gare, Inc., et al.

Citizen enforcer Michael DiPirro and Gare. Inc. entered into an out-of-court Settlement Agreement on April 12, 2001.  The Settlement Agreement resolved DiPirro’s allegations that Gare sold glazes, under-glazes, over-glazes, glass colors, ceramic paints, and coatings containing cadmium, cobalt(II) oxide, and toluene in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings. 

As part of the settlement, Gare agreed to immediately initiate efforts to revise its current product, packaging, and/or labels for the products to provide the proper Proposition 65 warnings consistent with the agreement.  Gare agreed that, within 15 days of April 13, 2001, it shall not distribute or sell any Products for sale or use in California unless the products are accompanied by the agreed upon warning language.  Additionally, Gare agreed to provide warning labels to distributors who it knew or had reason to believe may be selling products that had entered the stream of commerce prior to April 13, 2001.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $1,000 in civil penalties, 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.