Held v. Francesca's Collections Inc.

On October 26, 2011, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E. and settling defendant Francesca's Collections, Inc. ("Francesca's"), entered into an out-of-court Settlement Agreement, which resolved Held's allegations that Francesca's sold toiletry cases and 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, Francesca's agreed not to sell the specific toiletry case/bag identified in the Agreement in California after November 1, 2011, unless the toiletry case/bag contains less than 0.1 percent (1,000 parts per million) of DEHP in any accessible component when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $22,500, 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.