Held v. Turn Up the Music, Inc. and TUTM Entertainment, Inc.

On May 1, 2009, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E., and settling defendants Turn Up the Music, Inc. and TUTM Entertainment, Inc. (collectively "TUTM") entered into an out-of-court Settlement Agreement, which resolved Held's allegations that TUTM sold children's vinyl toys 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, TUTM agreed not to sell or distribute any children's vinyl toys in California after January 1, 2009, unless the vinyl toys contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $20,000, 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.