Moorberg v. Alvin and Company, Inc.

On December 11, 2015, citizen enforcer Mark Moorberg and settling party Alvin and Company, Inc. (“Alvin”) entered into an out-of-court settlement agreement.  Moorberg had alleged that Alvin sold stools with vinyl/PVC upholstery 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, Alvin agreed not to sell any stools with vinyl/PVC upholstery in California after December 18, 2015, unless the stools contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP and diisononyl phthalate (“DINP”) when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies or have Proposition 65 warnings provided.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $17,000, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to citizen enforcer Moorberg and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.