Held v. Nina Footwear Corporation

On October 11, 2010, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E., and settling defendant Nina Footwear Corporation (“Nina”) entered into an out-of-court Settlement Agreement, which resolved Held’s allegations that Nina sold children’s fashion accessories and children’s apparel 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 agreement, Nina agreed not to sell any children’s fashion accessories or children’s apparel in California after October 15, 2010, unless the fashion accessories and bags 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 $5,000, 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.