Leeman v. Home Essentials & Beyond, Inc.

The parties involved in the case Leeman v. Home Essentials & Beyond, Inc. executed a Consent Judgment on March 2, 2017.  In this matter, citizen enforcer Whitney R. Leeman, Ph.D. alleged that Home Essentials & Beyond, Inc. (“Home Essentials”) sold glass canisters, glass jars, and glass mugs with exterior designs containing the heavy metal lead in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.  

As part of the agreement, Home Essentials agreed not to sell any glass canisters, glass jars, and glass mugs with exterior designs in California after the Santa Clara County Superior Court approves the Judgment, unless the designs contain no more than 1 microgram residual lead content by weight when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies OR have Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Home Essentials provide Leeman with certification by January 15, 2018 that all glass canisters, glass jars, and glass mugs with exterior designs sold in California meet the specified reformulation standards, Leeman has agreed to waive a portion of the civil penalty that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of up to $67,500, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to whistleblower Leeman and her counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.