Englander v. Coastal Pet Products, Inc.

In the enforcement action Englander v. Coastal Pet Products, Inc., the parties executed a Consent Judgment on September 10, 2013.  The case resolved citizen enforcer Peter Englander’s allegations that the defendant Coastal Pet Products, Inc. (“Coastal Pet”) sold hand tools with grips containing the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (“DEHP”) in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings. 

As part of the settlement, Coastal Pet agreed not to sell any hand tools in California after September 3, 2013, unless the tools contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP in any accessible component when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. 

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $12,000, 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.