Englander v. Room & Board, Inc.
Citizen enforcer Peter Englander’s allegations against defendant Room & Board, Inc. (“Room & Board”) were resolved on November 27, 2013, when the parties executed a Consent Judgment. In this matter, Englander alleged that Room & Board sold padded upholstered furniture with foam padding including ottomans containing the flame retardant tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (“TDCPP”) in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.
As part of the settlement, Room & Board agreed not to sell any furniture including ottomans in California after March 31, 2014, unless the ottomans contains no detectable amount of TDCPP and tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (“TCEP”) when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Additionally, Room & Board agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by October 15, 2013, and instruct them to provide ottomans that comply expeditiously. Ottomans currently existing in Room & Board’s inventory must be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided. Should Room & Board provide written certification that all ottomans sold in California after November 1, 2013 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 Room & Board should provide written certification that all furniture sold in California after March 31, 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 $116,000, 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.