Englander v. Human Touch, LLC

Citizen enforcer Peter Englander’s allegations against defendant Human Touch, LLC (“Human Touch”) were resolved on December 22, 2013, when the parties executed a Consent Judgment.  In this matter, Englander alleged that Human Touch sold padded upholstered furniture with foam padding containing the flame retardants tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (“TDCPP”) and tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (“TCEP”)in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Human Touch agreed not to sell any furniture in California after April 30, 2014, unless the furniture contains no detectable amount of TDCPP and TCEP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Additionally, Human Touch agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by January 21, 2014, and instruct them to provide furniture that complies expeditiously.  Furniture currently existing in Human Touch’s inventory must be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Human Touch provide written certification that all furniture sold in California after February 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 Human Touch should provide written certification that all furniture sold in California after April 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 $57,000, 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.