Held v. Sazerac Company, Inc.

Whistleblower Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E. and settling party Sazerac Company, Inc. (“Sazerac”) entered into an out-of-court Settlement Agreement on June 25, 2014, which resolved Held’s allegations that Sazerac sold drinking glasses containing the heavy metal lead in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Sazerac agreed to, after June 20, 2014, use reasonable efforts to manufacture, import, ship, sell, or distribute for sale in California only products that contain no lead.  Additionally, Sazerac agreed to obtain written certification from its vendors that the products supplied to Sazerac contain no lead, and Sazerac will keep such written confirmations in its files.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $41,500, 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.