Held v. Cost Plus, Inc., et al.

On August 26, 2008, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E. and settling defendant Cost Plus, Inc. ("Cost Plus") entered into an out-of-court Settlement Agreement, which resolved Held's allegations that Cost Plus sold children's toys 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, Cost Plus agreed not to sell the specific children’s toys identified in the Consent Judgment in California after August 27, 2008, unless the toys have Proposition 65 warnings provided or contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. 

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $25,000, 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.