Englander v. Liberty Hardware Mfg. Corp.
On December 13, 2017, citizen enforcer Peter Englander and settling party Liberty Hardware Mfg. Corp. (“Liberty”) entered into an out-of-court settlement agreement. Englander had alleged that Liberty sold vinyl/PVC safety treads 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, Liberty agreed not to sell any vinyl/PVC safety treads in California after December 15, 2017, unless the safety treads contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP, butyl benzyl phthalate (“BBP”), di-n-butyl phthalate (“DBP”), diisodecyl phthalate (“DIDP”), or diisononyl phthalate (“DINP”) when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies or have Proposition 65 warnings provided.
The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $26,000, 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.