Held v. Alpargatas USA, Inc.; et al.

On September 28, 2010, the Marin County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Held v. Alpargatas USA, Inc.; et al., which resolved citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E.'s allegations that the defendant Alpargatas USA, Inc. ("Alpargatas") sold footwear 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, Alpargatas agreed not to offer any children's shoes for sale in California after September 13, 2010, unless the children's shoes contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state and federally approved testing methodologies. For a 90 day interim period from June 15, 2010, to September 13, 2010, Alpargatsa agreed to sell shoes bearing Proposition 65 warnings, after that period all shoes were required to be reformulated.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $99,000, to be divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to whistleblower Held and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.