Held v. Lehigh Consumer Products LLC

The parties involved in the case Held v. Lehigh Consumer Products LLC executed a Consent Judgment on September 26, 2016.  In this matter, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E.  alleged that Lehigh Consumer Products LLC (“Lehigh”) sold vinyl/PVC gloves containing the phthalate chemical diisononyl phthalate (“DINP”) in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.  

As part of the agreement, Lehigh agreed not to sell any vinyl/PVC gloves in California after the San Francisco County Superior Court approves the Judgment, unless the gloves contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DINP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies OR have Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Lehigh provide Held with certification on or before October 30, 2016 that all vinyl/PVC gloves sold in California qualify as reformulated according to the above terms, Held has agreed to waive a portion of the civil penalty that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of up to $78,000, 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.