Held v. Peavey Electronics Corporation

On February 26, 2015, the parties executed an out-of-court Settlement Agreement, which resolved the allegations that whistleblower Anthony E. Held, Ph.D, P.E. made against settling party Peavey Electronics Corporation (“Peavey”).  In this matter, Held alleged that Peavey sold vinyl/PVC guitar straps 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, Peavey agreed not to sell any vinyl/PVC guitar straps in California after March 2, 2015, unless the straps contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies or have Proposition 65 warnings provided.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $20,750, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to citizen enforcer Held and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.