Englander v. Brentwood Originals, Inc.

Citizen enforcer Peter Englander’s allegations against settling party Brentwood Originals, Inc. (“Brentwood”) were resolved on March 31, 2014, when the parties executed an out-of-court Settlement Agreement.  In this matter, Englander alleged that Brentwood sold upholstered seat cushions with foam padding containing the flame retardant tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (“TDCPP”) in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Brentwood agreed not to sell any seat cushions in California after March 31, 2014, unless the seat cushions contain no detectable amount of tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (“TCEP”) and TDCPP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Additionally, Brentwood agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by March 31, 2014, and instruct them to provide seat cushions that comply expeditiously.  Seat cushions currently existing in Brentwood’s inventory must be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Brentwood provide written certification that all seat cushions sold in California after March 31, 2014 qualify as reformulated, Englander agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine.  Additionally, Englander provided a credit for extending the breadth of reformulation, among other credits available, if Brentwood should provide written certification that all seat cushions sold in California after November 30, 2014, contains no detectable amounts of tris(2,3-dibromopropyl)phosphate (“TDBPP”) in addition to satisfying the TCEP and TDCPP requirements.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $52,500, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to whistleblower Englander and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.