Held v. Lowe's Home Centers LLC

On December 21, 2018, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E. and settling party Lowe's Home Centers LLC (“Lowe's”) entered into an out-of-court settlement agreement. Held had alleged that Lowe's sold vinyl/PVC greenhouse covers 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, Lowe's agreed not to sell any vinyl/PVC greenhouse covers in California after December 21, 2018, unless the greenhouse covers contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies OR have Proposition 65 warnings provided. 

 

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of up to $27,000, 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.