Held v. Cutie Pie Baby, Inc., et al.

On February 18, 2010, the San Francisco County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Held v. Ascendia Brands, Co., Inc., et al., which resolved citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E.'s allegations that the defendant Cutie Pie Baby, Inc. ("Cutie Pie Baby") sold children's vinyl bags containing the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate ("DEHP") in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

Cutie Pie Baby represents that it no longer sells children's vinyl bags in California. However, as part of the settlement, should Cutie Pie Baby reintroduce the vinyl bags in California, the company agreed not to sell any children's vinyl bags after December 31, 2009, unless the bags contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies or contain Proposition 65 warnings.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $29,500, to be 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.