Held v. Building Materials Holding Company

The parties involved in the case Held v. Building Materials Holding Company executed a Consent Judgment on July 1, 2015.  In this matter, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E. alleged that Building Materials Holding Company (“BMC”) sold tape measures with vinyl/PVC straps and 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 agreement, BMC agreed not to sell any tape measures with vinyl/PVC straps and grips in California after the Santa Clara County Superior Court approves the Judgment, unless the tape measures contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of $30,800, 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.