Held v. CSS, Inc.

 The parties involved in the case Held v. CSS, Inc. executed a Consent Judgment on June 2, 2014.  In this matter, citizen enforcer Anthony Held, Ph.D., P.E., alleged that CSS, Inc. (“CSS”) sold pliers with vinyl/PVC grips containing the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.  

As part of the agreement, CSS agreed not to sell any pliers with vinyl/PVC grips in California after June 10, 2014, unless the pliers contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Pliers already existing in inventory must be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Additionally, CSS agreed to notify its vendors of the reformulation standards by June 10, 2014, and instruct them to provide pliers that comply expeditiously.  Should CSS provide written certification that all pliers sold in California either qualify as reformulated or have been discontinued by June 10, 2014, and continuing into the future, Held agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of $80,000, 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.