Held v. Palos Verdes Footwear, Inc.

On April 27, 2012, the Marin County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Held v. Palos Verdes Footwear, Inc., which resolved citizen enforcer Anthony Held, Ph.D., P.E.'s allegations that the defendant, Palos Verdes Footwear, Inc. ("Palos"), 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, Palos agreed not to sell in California any footwear after December 31, 2012, unless the footwear is reformulated to contain less than or equal to 1,000 parts per million (0.1%) of DEHP, butyl benzyl phthalate ("BBP"), and/or di-n-butyl phthalate ("DBP") in each accessible component when analyzed pursuant to state and federally approved testing methodologies. Furthermore, Palos agreed to notify its then-current vendors of the new reformulation standard within 30 days of the execution of the Consent Judgment and instruct them to use reasonable efforts to comply expeditiously. Due to Palos's commitment to comply with the heightened standards, Held agreed to credit a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $44,000, 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.