Held v. Tri-Coastal Design Group, Inc.

Whistleblower Anthony E. Held, Ph.D, P.E. and settling party Tri-Coastal Design Group, Inc. (“Tri-Coastal”) entered into an out-of-court settlement agreement on April 16, 2015.  Held had alleged that Tri-Coastal sold vinyl/PVC journal covers 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, Tri-Coastal agreed not to sell vinyl/PVC journal covers in California after April 15, 2015, unless the journal covers contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies or bear a Proposition 65 warning pursuant to section 2.3 of the agreement.  Should Tri-Coastal provide written certification to Held that all its journal covers sold in California qualify as reformulated by September 15, 2015, Held has agreed to waive a portion of the civil penalties.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $26,000, 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.