Englander v. Q.E.P. Co., Inc.

In the enforcement action Englander v. Q.E.P. Co., Inc., whistleblower Peter Englander resolved his allegations against the defendant Q.E.P. Co., Inc. (“QEP”) when the parties executed a Consent Judgment on January 3, 2014.  In this case, Englander alleged that QEP sold hand tools including tile cutters and tile nippers 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, QEP agreed not to sell any hand tools in California after January 15, 2014, unless the hand tools contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies or have Proposition 65 warnings provided.  All exemplar products must be reformulated by March 1, 2014.  Additionally, QEP agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by December 15, 2013, and instruct them to provide hand tools that comply.  All hand tools must qualify as reformulated by June 1, 2014.  Should QEP provide written certification by April 15, 2014 that it has met the reformulation standards in advance of the deadlines stipulated in the Consent Judgment, Englander agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied. 

The Consent Judgment requires a total settlement payment of $72,000, 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.