Held v. LifeTrak Incorporated

On June 15, 2017, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E. and settling party LifeTrak Incorporated (“LifeTrak”) entered into an out-of-court settlement agreement.  Held had alleged that LifeTrak sold safety vests with vinyl/PVC components 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, LifeTrak agreed not to sell any safety vests with vinyl/PVC components in California after June 13, 2017, unless the safety vests contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $19,000, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to citizen enforcer Held and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.