Englander v. Minson Corporation

Citizen enforcer Peter Englander’s allegations against defendant Minson Corporation (“Minson”) were resolved on October 16, 2013, when the parties executed a Consent Judgment.  In this matter, Englander alleged that Minson sold padded upholstered furniture including chairs 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, Minson agreed not to sell any chairs or other furniture in California after March 31, 2014, unless the chairs contain no more than 25 parts per million of TDCPP and TCEP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Additionally, Minson agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by October 15, 2013, and instruct them to provide chairs that comply expeditiously.  Chairs currently existing in Minson’s inventory may be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Minson provide written certification that all chairs 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 Minson should provide written certification that all chairs sold in California after March 31, 2014, contain 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 $131,000, 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.