Englander v. Steve Silver Company

In the enforcement action Englander v. Home Meridian Holdings, Inc., citizen enforcer Peter Englander’s allegations against defendant Steve Silver Company (“Steve Silver”) were resolved on March 31, 2014, when the parties executed a Consent Judgment.  In this matter, Englander alleged that Steve Silver sold upholstered chairs with foam padding containing the flame retardants tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (“TDCPP”) and tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (“TCEP”) and chairs with vinyl/PVC upholstery 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, Steve Silver agreed not to sell any chairs in California after August 30, 2014, unless the chairs contain no detectable amount of TDCPP and TCEP and no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP, DBP, and BBP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Additionally, Steve Silver agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by April 15, 2014, and instruct them to provide chairs that comply expeditiously.  Chairs currently existing in Steve Silver’s inventory must be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Steve Silver provide written certification that all chairs sold in California after April 30, 2014 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 Steve Silver should provide written certification that all chairs sold in California after April 30, 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 $119,000, 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.