Englander v. Voltec Industries LLC

Whistleblower Peter Englander and settling party Voltec Industries LLC (“Voltec”) entered into an out-of-court Settlement Agreement on August 29, 2013, which resolved Englander’s allegations that Voltec sold clamp lamps with vinyl/PVC clamps 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, Voltec agreed not to sell any clamp lamps with vinyl/PVC clamps in California after September 1, 2013, unless the lamps contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP in any accessible component when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies or have Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Voltec provide written certification that by November 1, 2013, and continuing into the future, all clamp lamps sold in California qualify as reformulated, Englander agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied. 

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $24,000, 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.