Held v. Tworoger Associates, Ltd.

On December 15, 2011, the Alameda County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Held v. Tworoger Associates, Ltd., which resolved citizen enforcer Anthony Held, Ph.D., P.E.'s allegations that the defendant Tworoger Associates, Limited ("Tworoger") sold eyewear cases 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, Tworoger agreed not to sell eyeware cases in California, after September 1, 2011, unless they contain less than .1% of DEHP in each accessible component when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Tworoger also agreed to place Proposition 65 warnings on the eyewear cases it does not reformulate.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $40,000, 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.