Leeman v. Legoland California, LLC, et al.

On September 18, 2008, the San Diego-North County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Leeman v. Legoland California, LLC, which resolved citizen enforcer Whitney R. Leeman, Ph.D.'s allegations that the defendant Legoland California, LLC ("Legoland") sold flame-broiled hamburgers containing the chemicals benz[a]anthracene, benzo[a]pyrene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, and indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene, in the State of California, without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Legoland agreed not to sell any flame-broiled hamburgers in California after June 30, 2008, unless the hamburgers are cooked on new broilers pursuant to Section 2.2 of the Consent Judgment or sold with Proposition 65 warnings. Should Legoland eliminate the need for Proposition 65 warnings by June 30, 2008, Leeman agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $81,000, to be 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.