Held v. Cross Canvas Company, Inc.

On March 28, 2011, the San Francisco County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Held v. Cross Canvas Company, Inc., which resolved citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E.'s allegations that the defendant Cross Canvas Company, Inc. ("Cross Canvas"), sold backpacks 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, Cross Canvas agreed not to sell any children's backpacks in California after November 19, 2010, unless the backpacks contain less than .1% of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of $37,000, 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.