Englander v. Vaughan & Bushnell Manufacturing Co.

In the enforcement action Englander v. Vaughan & Bushnell Manufacturing Co., the parties executed a Consent Judgment on June 28, 2013.  The case resolved citizen enforcer Peter Englander’s allegations that the defendant Vaughan & Bushnell Manufacturing Co. (“V&B”) sold hammers with grips 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, V&B agreed not to sell any hammers in California after the Alameda County Superior Court approves the Consent Judgment, unless the hammers contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP in any accessible component when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Should V&B provide written certification that all hammers are reformulated by February 1, 2014, Englander agreed to credit a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied. 

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $82,250, 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.