Held v. Sam Ash Music Corporation

The parties involved in the case Held v. Sam Ash Music Corporation executed a Consent Judgment on April 30, 2015.  In this matter, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D, P.E. alleged that Sam Ash Music Corporation (“Sam Ash”) sold microphones with vinyl/PVC cords 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, Sam Ash agreed not to sell any microphones with vinyl/PVC cords in California after the Alameda County Superior Court approves the Judgment, unless the microphones contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies or have Proposition 65 warnings provided pursuant to section 2.2 of the agreement.

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of $37,000, 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.