Held v. Shalom International Corp., et al.

On January 13, 2012, the Alameda County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Held v. Shalom; et al., which resolved citizen enforcer Anthony Held, Ph.D., P.E.'s allegations that the defendant Shalom International Corporation ("Shalom") sold tote bags containing the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate ("DEHP") in the State of California without providing the requisite Proposition 65 warnings.

As part of the settlement, Shalom agreed to reformulate the tote bags by October 1, 2011 so that the bags contain less than or equal to 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies or contain Proposition 65 health hazard warnings. Should Shalom eliminate the need for Proposition 65 warnings on the tote bags by April 1, 2012, Held agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $24,000, 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.