Englander v. Great Plains Industries, Inc.

On April 26, 2016, citizen enforcer Peter Englander and settling party Great Plains Industries, Inc. (“Great Plains”) entered into an out-of-court settlement agreement.  Englander had alleged that Great Plains sold vinyl/PVC fuel pump nozzle 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, Great Plains agreed not to sell any vinyl/PVC fuel pump nozzle grips in California after May 1, 2016, unless the nozzle grips contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP in each component when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $34,000, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to citizen enforcer Englander and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.