Held v. Kole Imports

On March 12, 2009, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E. and settling defendant Kole Imports (“Kole”) entered into an out-of-court Settlement Agreement, which resolved Held’s allegations that Kole sold children’s soft vinyl balls, vinyl backpacks, vinyl coated measuring tapes and vinyl craft string 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, Kole agreed not to sell any children’s soft vinyl balls, vinyl backpacks, vinyl coated measuring tapes or vinyl craft string in California after March 15, 2009, unless the balls, backpacks, measuring tapes and vinyl craft string contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies or have Proposition 65 health hazard warnings affixed to them.  All of the balls, backpacks, measuring tapes, and string sold in California by Kole after April 1, 2009, shall meet reformulation standards. 

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $20,000, 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.