Moore v. DAS Distributors, Inc., et al.

On December 21, 2012, the Alameda County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Moore v. DAS Distributors, Inc., et al., which resolved citizen enforcer John Moore's allegations that the defendants DAS Distributors, Inc. and DAS, Inc. ("DAS") distributed and/or sold notepad and business card holders with vinyl/PVC covers and vinyl/PVC kit bag products 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, DAS agreed to discontinue sales of all covered products in California unless the products complied with the warning requirements set forth in Section 2.2 of the Consent Judgment.  Pursuant to the agreement, warnings were required to be placed upon the packaging of the product, the product itself, or within the instructions for the product, however, if the warning is not placed on the product itself, the warning on the packaging shall be removable and contain instructions for the consumer to remove the warning from the packaging and reattach it to the product.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $14,000, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to whistleblower DiPirro and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.