Moorberg v. Schumacher Electric Corporation

The parties involved in the case Moorberg v. Schumacher Electric Corporation executed a Consent Judgment on April 8, 2016.  In this matter, citizen enforcer Mark Moorberg alleged that Schumacher Electric Corporation (“Schumacher”) sold booster cable clamps with vinyl/PVC grips 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 agreement, Schumacher agreed not to sell any booster cable clamps with vinyl/PVC grips in California six months after the Santa Clara County Superior Court enters the Judgment, unless the tags contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Should Schumacher provide Moorberg with certification by September 15, 2016 that all booster cable clamps with vinyl/PVC grips sold in California qualify as reformulated by the above standards, Moorberg has agreed to waive a portion of the civil penalty that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of $24,000, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to whistleblower Moorberg and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.