Leeman v. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company

The parties involved in the case Leeman v. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company executed a Consent Judgment on March 18, 2016.  In this matter, citizen enforcer Whitney R. Leeman, Ph.D. alleged that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company (“Houghton”) sold books with vinyl/PVC covers containing the heavy metal lead in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.  

As part of the agreement, Houghton agreed not to sell any books with vinyl/PVC covers in California after the San Francisco County Superior Court approves the Judgment, unless the covers contain no more than 90 parts per million of lead content by weight when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Should Houghton provide certification by June 1, 2016 that all books with vinyl/PVC covers offered for sale in California qualify as reformulated under the above standards, Leeman has agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine.

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of $47,000, 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.