Leeman v. U.S.A. Sports Inc.

On May 4, 2016, citizen enforcer Whitney R. Leeman, Ph.D., P.E. and settling party U.S.A. Sports Inc. (“U.S.A. Sports”) entered into an out-of-court settlement agreement.  Leeman had alleged that U.S.A. Sports sold handheld exercise weights with vinyl/PVC coverings 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, U.S.A. Sports agreed not to sell any handheld exercise weights with vinyl/PVC coverings in California after May 1, 2016, unless the weights contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP in each accessible component when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies, OR have Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should U.S.A. Sports provide Leeman with written certification by December 1, 2016 that all handheld exercise weights with vinyl/PVC coverings sold in California qualify as reformulated products under the agreement, Leeman agreed to waive a portion of the civil penalty that would otherwise be applied.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $37,000, 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 his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.