Held v. Shalom International Corp., et al.

On April 1, 2010, the Marin County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Held v. Shalom; et al., which resolved citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E.'s allegations that Shalom International Corporation ("Shalom") sold pre-walk shoes containing the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate ("DEHP") in the State of California without providing the requisite Proposition 65 health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Shalom agreed not to sell any pre-walk shoes in California after February 1, 2010, unless the pre-walk shoes have Proposition 65 health hazard warnings provided or contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Shalom commits that 100% of the pre-walk shoes it manufactures after February 1, 2010, shall qualify as reformulated.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $40,500, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to Held and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.