Held v. Shelby Group International, Inc.

The parties involved in the case Held v. Shelby Group International, Inc. executed a Consent Judgment on February 20, 2014.  In this matter, citizen enforcer Anthony Held, Ph.D., P.E., alleged that Shelby Group International, Inc. (“Shelby”) sold vinyl/PVC rainwear containing the heavy metal lead in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.  

As part of the agreement, Shelby agreed not to sell any vinyl/PVC rainwear in California after March 1, 2014, unless the rainwear contains no more than 100 parts per million of lead when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Additionally, by March 1, 2014, Shelby shall notify its vendors of the reformulation standards and instruct them to provide rainwear that complies with these standards expeditiously.  Should Shelby provide written certification that all rainwear has been reformulated by March 1, 2014, and continuing into the future, Held agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of $80,000, 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.