Held v. Standard Fusee Corporation

Whistleblower Anthony Held, Ph.D., P.E. and settling party Standard Fusee Corporation (“Standard Fusee”) entered into an out-of-court Settlement Agreement on September 4, 2014, which resolved Held’s allegations that Standard Fusee sold flashlights with vinyl/PVC handles containing the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (“DEHP”) in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Standard Fusee agreed not to sell any flashlights in California after September 15, 2014, unless the flashlights contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP in any accessible component when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies or have the appropriate Proposition 65 warnings provided as outlined in Section 2.3.  Flashlights remaining in inventory must be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Standard Fusee provided written certification that all flashlights sold in California qualify as reformulated by October 15, 2014, Held agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied. 

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $36,500, 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.