Held v. Starz Media, LLC and Anchor Bay Entertainment, LLC

Citizen enforcer Dr. Anthony Held and settling parties Starz Media, LLC (“Starz”) and Anchor Bay Entertainment, LLC (“Anchor Bay”) entered into a Consent Judgment on July 3, 2014, which resolved Held’s allegations that Starz and Anchor Bay sold exercise balls 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, Starz and Anchor Bay agreed not to sell any exercise balls in California after April 15, 2014, unless the exercise balls meet the reformulation requirements outlined in Section 2.2 of the Consent Judgment.  Should Starz and Anchor Bay provide written certification by June 30, 2014 that all exercise balls sold in California qualify as reformulated, Held agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied. 

The Agreement requires settlement payments of $43,500, 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.