Held v. Schifter + Partners

On June 3, 2011, Schifter + Partners ("Schifter"), executed an Amended Stipulation for Entry of Judgment electing to opt-into an Amended Consent Judgment to address the plaintiff Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E.'s allegations that Schifter sold products containing the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate ("DEHP") in the State of California without providing the requisite Proposition 65 warnings. The products covered by this stipulation are cosmetic cases/bags containing DEHP sold to California citizens by Schifter.

As part of the settlement, Schifter agreed not to sell any of the cosmetic cases/bags in California after December 15, 2011, unless each accessible component of the cosmetic cases/bags contains less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP, BBP, and DBP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. In the interim, Schifter was required to provide the agreed upon reformulation standard to its then-current vendors of cosmetic cases/bags sold or offered for sale to California citizens and was required to instruct each vendor to use reasonable efforts to provide cosmetic cases/bags that comply with the aforementioned reformulation standard expeditiously.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $36,000, 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.

On August 29, 2010, the San Francisco Superior Court consolidated two actions brought by citizen enforcers Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E. and John Moore against the defendant manufacturers, distributors and retailers of fashion accessories alleged to have sold products containing the phthalate chemical DEHP to California citizens without the requisite health hazard warnings. On March 22, 2011, an Amended Consent Judgment for this matter, which added the two additional phthalates BBP and DBP, was approved. A summary of the consolidated action and settlement can be found in Held v. Aldo U.S., Inc., et al. and Moore v. Kate Spade, et al. Lead Case No. CGC-10-497729. Click here for primary case record