Held v. Crown Crafts, Inc.

On October 18, 2010, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E., and settling defendant Crown Crafts, Inc. ("Crown Crafts") entered into an out-of-court Settlement Agreement, which resolved Held's allegations that Crown Crafts sold packaging for bedding with handles and vinyl bags 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, Crown Crafts agreed not to manufacture any bags in California after September 30, 2010, unless the bags contained 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 $26,000, 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.