Held v. Whirlpool Corporation

Citizen enforcer Anthony Held, Ph.D, P.E. and settling party Whirlpool Corporation (“Whirlpool”) entered into an out-of-court settlement agreement on July 1, 2015.  Held had alleged that Whirlpool sold stools with vinyl/PVC upholstery containing the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (“DINP”) in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Whirlpool agreed not to sell any stools with vinyl/PVC upholstery in California after September 1, 2015, unless the stools contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Should Whirlpool provide Held with written certification by November 1, 2015 that all stools with vinyl/PVC upholstery sold in California qualify as reformulated products under the agreement, Held agreed to waive a portion of the civil penalty that would otherwise be applied.

The Settlement Agreement 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 citizen enforcer Held and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.