Held v. Olem Shoe Corporation

On November 27, 2012, the Alameda County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Held v. Olem Shoe Corporation, which resolved citizen enforcer Anthony Held, Ph.D., P.E.'s allegations that the defendant Olem Shoe Corporation ("Olem") sold footwear 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, Olem agreed not to sell any footwear in California after November 27, 2012, unless the footwear contains less than .1 percent of DEHP in each accessible component when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Held agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied due to Olem's compliance with these heightened standards.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $48,000, divided therein between civil penalties, 75 percent 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.