Englander v. Stanley Furniture Company, Inc.

In the enforcement action Englander v. Home Meridian Holdings, Inc., citizen enforcer Peter Englander’s allegations against defendant Stanley Furniture Company, Inc. (“Stanley”) were resolved on March 25, 2014, when the parties executed a Consent Judgment.  In this matter, Englander alleged that Stanley sold upholstered furniture including chairs with foam padding 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, Stanley agreed not to sell any furniture including chairs in California after July 1, 2014, unless the furniture contains no detectable amount of TDCPP and tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (“TCEP”) when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Additionally, Stanley agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by March 17, 2014, and instruct them to provide furniture that complies expeditiously.  Furniture currently existing in Stanley’s inventory must be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Stanley provide written certification that all furniture sold in California after April 30, 2014 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 Stanley should provide written certification that all furniture sold in California after May 15, 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 $77,500, 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.