Held v. Navajo Manufacturing Company

On March 5, 2010, the Los Angeles County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Held v. Navajo Manufacturing Company, which resolved citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E.'s allegations that the defendant Navajo Manufacturing Company ("Navajo") sold children's soft sporting balls, party favors/squeeze animals, soft eyewear cases, and eyewear cords with vinyl components containing the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate ("DEHP"), and jumper/booster cables containing the heavy metal lead in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Navajo agreed not to sell any children's soft sporting balls, party favors/squeeze animals, soft eyewear cases, eyewear cords with vinyl components, and jumper/booster cables in California after November 30, 2009, unless the products are sold or shipped with Proposition 65 warnings.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $63,000, 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.