Held v. Grote Industries, Inc.

The parties involved in the case Held v. Grote Industries, Inc. executed a Consent Judgment on March 29, 2018.  In this matter, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E. alleged that Grote Industries, Inc. (“Grote”) sold vinyl/PVC electrical wires 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 agreement, Grote agreed not to sell any vinyl/PVC electrical wires in California after the San Francisco County Superior Court approves the Judgment, unless the electrical wires contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies OR have Proposition 65 warnings provided.

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of up to $27,500, 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.