Englander v. Ideavillage Products Corp

Citizen enforcer Peter Englander’s allegations against defendant Ideavillage Products Corp (“Ideavillage”) were resolved on November 5, 2013, when the parties executed a Consent Judgment.  In this matter, Englander alleged that Ideavillage sold upholstered massaging pillows with foam padding containing 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, Ideavillage agreed not to sell any of massaging pillows in California after March 31, 2014, unless the pillows contain no more than 25 parts per million of TDCPP and TCEP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Additionally, Ideavillage agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by October 15, 2013, and instruct them to provide pillows that comply expeditiously.  Pillows currently existing in Ideavillage’s inventory may be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Ideavillage provide written certification that all pillows sold in California after November 1, 2013 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 Ideavillage should provide written certification that all pillows sold in California after March 15, 2014, contain no detectable amounts of tris(2,3-dibromopropyl)phosphate (“TDBPP”) in addition to satisfying the TDCPP and TCEP requirement.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $129,000, 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.