Held v. M.Z. Berger & Company, Inc., et al.

On September 17, 2008, the Alameda County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Held v. M.Z. Berger & Company, Inc., which resolved citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E.'s allegations that the defendant M.Z. Berger & Company, Inc. ("M.Z.") sold children's watches containing di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate ("DEHP") in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, M.Z. agreed not to sell any children's watches in California after July 1, 2008, unless the watches are sold or shipped with Proposition 65 warnings or contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. 100% of watches offered for sale in California by M.Z. after September 30, 2008, shall qualify as reformulated. The settlement sum does not include additional fees incurred seeking judicial approval of the Consent Judgment.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $31,000, to be 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.