Englander and Center for Environmental Health v. Century Furniture, LLC; CV Industries, Inc.

Citizen enforcer Peter Englander’s allegations against defendants Century Furniture, LLC and CV Industries, Inc. (collectively “Century”) were resolved on December 2, 2013, when the parties executed a Consent Judgment.  In this matter, Englander alleged that Century sold padded upholstered chairs with foam padding containing the flame retardant tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (“TCEP”) in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.  The Center for Environmental Health alleged that Century sold upholstered furniture containing the flame retardant tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (“TDCPP”) without providing the requisite health hazard warnings, and was a co-plaintiff in this matter.

As part of the settlement, Century agreed not to sell any chairs in California after the Alameda County Superior Court approves the Consent Judgment, unless the chairs contains no more than 25 parts per million of TDCPP, TCEP, and tris(2,3-dibromopropyl)phosphate (“TDBPP”) when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Additionally, Century agreed to provide its foam suppliers with the reformulation standards and instruct them to provide foam that complies expeditiously.  Chairs currently existing in Century’s inventory must be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Century provide written certification that all chairs sold in California after December 31, 2013 qualify as reformulated, Englander agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine.  The Center for Environmental Health agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine should Century certify that all chairs sold in California contain foam untreated with flame retardants.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $118,000, divided therein between civil penalties and compensation to whistleblower Englander, the Center for Environmental Health, and their counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.