Englander v. GF Health Products, Inc.

Citizen enforcer Peter Englander and settling party GF Health Products, Inc. (“GF Health”) executed an out-of-court Settlement Agreement on February 18, 2014, which resolved Englander’s allegations that GF Health sold stools with vinyl/PVC upholstery containing the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (“DEHP”) and stools 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, GF Health agreed not to sell any stools in California after March 31, 2014, unless the stools contain no detectable amount of TDCPP and no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Additionally, GF Health agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by February 15, 2014, and instruct them to provide stools that comply expeditiously.  Stools currently existing in GF Health’s inventory must be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should GF Health provide written certification that all stools sold in California after February 15, 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 GF Health should provide written certification that all stools sold in California after March 31, 2014, contain no detectable amounts of tris(2,3-dibromopropyl)phosphate (“TDBPP”) in addition to satisfying the TDCPP requirement.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $83,000, 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.