Englander v. Magnussen Home Furnishings, Inc. and Magnussen Holdings Inc.

In the enforcement action Englander v. Bexco Enterprises, Inc., et al., citizen enforcer Peter Englander’s allegations against defendants Magnussen Home Furnishings, Inc. and Magnussen Holdings Inc. (collectively “Magnussen”) were resolved on January 15, 2014, when the parties executed a Consent Judgment.  In this matter, Englander alleged that Magnussen sold padded upholstered furniture including benches with foam padding containing the flame retardant tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (“TCEP”) in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Magnussen agreed not to sell any furniture in California after April 30, 2014, unless the furniture contains no detectable amount of TCEP and tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (“TDCPP”) when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Additionally, Magnussen agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by January 15, 2014, and instruct them to provide furniture that complies expeditiously.  Furniture currently existing in Magnussen’s inventory must be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Magnussen provide written certification that all furniture sold in California after January 31, 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 Magnussen should provide written certification that all furniture sold in California after April 30, 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 $127,000, 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.