Englander v. Craftmaster Furniture, Inc.

Citizen enforcer Peter Englander’s allegations against defendant Craftmaster Furniture, Inc. (“Craftmaster”) were resolved on October 31, 2013, when the parties executed a Consent Judgment.  In this matter, Englander alleged that Craftmaster sold padded upholstered furniture including ottomans 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, Craftmaster agreed not to sell any ottomans or other furniture in California after March 31, 2014, unless the ottomans contain no more than 25 parts per million of TDCPP and tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (“TCEP”)  when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Additionally, Craftmaster agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by October 15, 2013, and instruct them to provide ottomans that comply expeditiously.  Ottomans currently existing in Craftmaster’s inventory may be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Craftmaster provide written certification that all ottomans sold in California after November 1, 2013 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 Craftmaster should provide written certification that all ottomans sold in California after March 31, 2014, contain no detectable amounts of tris(2,3-dibromopropyl)phosphate (“TDBPP”) in addition to satisfying the TCEP and TDCPP requirements.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $128,000, 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.