Englander v. Four Paws Products, Ltd.

Posted: 03/15/2013  browse the case archive

The Honorable Ronni B. MacLaren of the Alameda County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment on March 15, 2013, in Englander v. Four Paws Products, Ltd.; et al.  This enforcement action resolved citizen enforcer Peter Englander’s allegations that the defendant Four Paws Products, Ltd. (“Four Paws”) sold pet grooming tools 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, Four Paws agreed not to sell any pet grooming tools  in California after December 3, 2013, unless the tools contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state and federally approved testing methodologies.  Additionally, by December 3, 2012, Four Paws agreed to notify its vendors of the reformulation standards for the pet grooming products and instruct them to comply expeditiously.  Should Four Paws provide written certification that 100% of its pet grooming tools are reformulated by December 3, 2013, Englander agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $50,000, 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.

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