Held v. Rayware Ltd.

The parties involved in the case Held v. Rayware, Inc. executed a Consent Judgment on November 16, 2015.  In this matter, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E. alleged that Rayware Ltd. (“Rayware”) sold kitchen utensils with vinyl/PVC grips 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 agreement, Rayware agreed not to sell any kitchen utensils with vinyl/PVC grips in California after the Marin County Superior Court approves the Judgment, unless the keychains contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of $31,000, 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.