Englander v. Oatey Co.

On December 1, 2017, citizen enforcer Peter Englander and settling party Oatey Co. (“Oatey”) entered into an out-of-court settlement agreement. Englander had alleged that Oatey sold vinyl/PVC tubing 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, Oatey agreed not to sell any vinyl/PVC tubing in California after February 15, 2018, unless the tubing contains 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 $21,500, 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.