Held v. Miller Manufacturing Company

Posted: 01/07/2014  browse the case archive

Whistleblower Anthony Held, Ph.D., P.E. and settling party Miller Manufacturing Company (“Miller”) entered into an out-of-court Settlement Agreement on January 7, 2014, which resolved Held’s allegations that Miller sold stable forks with vinyl/PVC handle grips 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, Miller agreed not to sell any stable forks with vinyl/PVC grips in California after January 15, 2014, unless the grips contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP in any accessible component when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Should Miller provide written certification that by March 1, 2014, and continuing into the future, all stable fork grips sold in California qualify as reformulated, Held agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied. 

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $28,000, 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.  

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