Held v. Rosanna Imports, Inc.

On May 8, 2015, Anthony E. Held, Ph.D, P.E. and settling party Rosanna Imports (“Rosanna”) entered into an out-of-court settlement agreement.  Held had alleged that Rosanna sold vinyl/PVC luggage tags with 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, Rosanna agreed not to sell any vinyl/PVC luggage tags in California after May 31, 2015, unless the tags contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP in any accessible component when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $18,000, 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.