Held v. Stephen Joseph, Inc.

On June 23, 2009, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E. and settling defendant Stephen Joseph, Inc. (“Stephen Joseph”) entered into an out-of-court Settlement Agreement, which resolved Held’s allegations that Stephen Joseph sold children’s vinyl coin holder keychains 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, Stephen Joseph agreed not to sell any children’s vinyl coin holder keychains in California after June 16, 2009, unless the keychains contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies or have Proposition 65 health hazard warnings provided.  All of the vinyl coin holder keychains sold in California by Stephen Joseph after August 31, 2009, shall meet reformulation standards. 

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $29,000, 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.