Held v. Essex Manufacturing, Inc.

On December 8, 2009, the Sacramento County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Held v. Essex Manufacturing, Inc., which resolved citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E.'s allegations that the defendant Essex Manufacturing, Inc. ("Essex") sold children's jackets containing the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate ("DEHP") and the heavy metal lead in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Essex agreed not to sell any children's jackets in California after September 30, 2009, unless the jackets contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP and 300 parts per million of lead when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies or have Proposition 65 health hazard warnings provided.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $33,000, 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.