Englander v. Home Meridian International, Inc.

In the enforcement action Englander v. Home Meridian Holdings, Inc., citizen enforcer Peter Englander’s allegations against defendant Home Meridian International, Inc. (“Home Meridian”) were resolved on August 29, 2014, when the parties executed a Consent Judgment.  In this matter, Englander alleged that Home Meridian sold upholstered furniture including chairs 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, Home Meridian agreed not to sell any furniture including chairs in California after November 15, 2014, unless the furniture contains no detectable amount of TDCPP and tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (“TCEP”) when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Additionally, Home Meridian agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by September 1, 2014, and instruct them to provide furniture that complies expeditiously.  Furniture currently existing in Home Meridian’s inventory must be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Home Meridian provide written certification that all furniture sold in California after September 1, 2014 qualifies 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 Home Meridian should provide written certification that all furniture sold in California after November 15, 2014, contains 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 $101,750, 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.