Leeman v. The Art of Tea LLC

On July 18, 2017, citizen enforcer Whitney R. Leeman, Ph.D. and settling party The Art of Tea LLC (“Art of Tea”) entered into an out-of-court settlement agreement.  Leeman had alleged that Art of Tea sold dried green teas containing the heavy metal lead in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Art of Tea agreed not to sell any dried green teas in California after July 17, 2017, unless the tea is virtually free of lead when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies OR have Proposition 65 warnings provided.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $13,000, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to citizen enforcer Leeman and her counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.