Leeman v. Shalom International Corp.

On December 8, 2015, citizen enforcer Whitney R. Leeman, Ph.D., and settling party Shalom International Corp. (“Shalom”) entered into an out-of-court settlement agreement.  Leeman had alleged that Shalom sold vinyl/PVC inflatable boot shapers containing the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (“DEHP”) in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Shalom agreed not to sell any vinyl/PVC inflatable boot shapers in California after December 15, 2015, unless the boot shapers contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $22,000, 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.