Held v. Blu Dot Design & Manufacturing, Inc.

In the enforcement action Held v. Blu Dot Design & Manufacturing, Inc, et al., citizen enforcer Anthony Held, Ph.D., P.E.’s allegations against defendant Blu Dot Design & Manufacturing, Inc. (“Blu Dot”) were resolved on April 29, 2014, when the parties executed a Consent Judgment.  In this matter, Held alleged that Blu Dot sold padded upholstered furniture including chairs with foam padding containing the flame retardants tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate ("TDCPP") and/or tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (“TCEP”) in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Blu Dot agreed not to sell any furniture in California after September 30, 2014, unless the furniture contains no detectable amount of TDCPP or TCEP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Additionally, Blu Dot agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by May 15, 2014, and instruct them to provide furniture that complies expeditiously.  Furniture currently existing in Blu Dot’s inventory must be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Blu Dot provide written certification that all furniture sold in California after June 1, 2014 qualifies as reformulated, Held agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine.  Additionally, Held provided a credit for extending the breadth of reformulation, among other credits available, if Blu Dot should provide written certification that all furniture sold in California after September 15, 2015, contains 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 $99,000, 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.