Englander v. Four Hands, LLC

Citizen enforcer Peter Englander’s allegations against defendant Four Hands, LLC (“Four Hands”) were resolved on October 31, 2013, when the parties executed a Consent Judgment.  In this matter, Englander alleged that Four Hands sold padded upholstered footstools 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, Four Hands agreed not to sell any footstools in California after March 31, 2014, unless the footstools 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, Four Hands agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by October 15, 2013, and instruct them to provide footstools that comply expeditiously.  Footstools currently existing in Four Hands’ inventory may be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Four Hands provide written certification that all footstools 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 Four Hands should provide written certification that all footstools 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 $126,000, 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.