Moore v. Guitar Center, Inc., et al.

On October 12, 2012, the Marin County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Moore v. Guitar Center, Inc., et al., which resolved citizen enforcer John Moore's allegations that the defendant Guitar Center, Inc. ("Guitar Center"), sold benches with vinyl seats 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, Guitar Center agreed not to sell any benches with vinyl seats in California unless each accessible component of the benches contains no more than 1,000 parts per million (0.1%) of DEHP when analyzed using state orfederally approved testing methodologies. Should Guitar Center comply with these heightened standards by December 15, 2012, Moore agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $50,000, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to whistleblower Moore and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.