Held v. Urban Decay Cosmetics, LLC

In the enforcement action Held v. Urban Decay Cosmetics LLC, the parties executed a Consent Judgment on April 24, 2013, which will eventually be reviewed by the Santa Clara County Superior Court.  This enforcement action resolved citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E.’s allegations that the defendant Urban Decay Cosmetics LLC (“Urban Decay”) sold cosmetic bags/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, Urban Decay agreed not to sell any cosmetic cases/bags in California after thirty days after the Santa Clara Court approves the Consent Judgment, unless the cosmetic cases/bags contain no more than 1,000 parts per million (0.1%) of DEHP in any accessible component that may be touched or handled during reasonably foreseeable use when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Additionally, Urban Decay agreed to provide the reformulation standards to its vendors and instruct them to provide cosmetic cases/bags that comply expeditiously.  Should Urban Decay provide written certification that by sixty days after the court approves the Consent Judgment, and continuing into the future, all cosmetic cases/bags are reformulated, Held agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.    

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $110,000, 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.