Held v. Big Lots, Inc. and Big Lots Stores, Inc.

On March 5, 2010, the San Francisco County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Held v. Big Lots, Inc. and Big Lots Stores, Inc., which resolved citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E.'s allegations that the defendant Big Lots Stores, Inc. ("Big Lots") sold vinyl smocks, vinyl bathroom toys, sporting toys, and other children's items containing the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate ("DEHP") and/or the heavy metal lead in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Big Lots agreed not to sell any vinyl smocks, vinyl bathroom toys, sporting toys, or other children's items in California after September 15, 2009, unless the covered products contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP and less than 300 parts per million of lead when analyzed using state and federally approved testing methodologies.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $213,500, 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.