Englander v. Mercer Tool Corp.

On December 21, 2017, citizen enforcer Peter Englander and settling party Mercer Tool Corp. (“Mercer”) entered into an out-of-court settlement agreement. Englander had alleged that Mercer sold vinyl/PVC pouches 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, Mercer agreed not to sell any vinyl/PVC pouches in California after December 15, 2017, unless the pouches contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies or have Proposition 65 warnings provided.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $14,500, 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.