Held v. Prime Enterprises, Inc.

The parties involved in the case Held v. Prime Enterprises, Inc. executed a Consent Judgment on March 22, 2017.  In this matter, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E. alleged that Prime Enterprises, Inc. (“Prime”) sold sunscreen products containing the chemical benzophenone in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.  

As part of the agreement, Prime agreed not to sell any sunscreen products in California after the Alameda County Superior Court enters the Judgment, unless the products contain no more than 50 parts per million of benzophenone when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Should Prime provide Held with certification by June 1, 2018 that all sunscreen products sold in California qualify as reformulated according to the above standards, Held has agreed to waive a portion of the civil penalty that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of up to $47,000, 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.