Moore v. Mannington Mills, Inc.

The parties involved in the complex case Moore v. American Biltrite, et al., executed a Consent Judgment on June 4, 2013.  In this enforcement action, citizen enforcer John Moore alleged that the defendant Mannington Mills, Inc. (“Mannington”) sold vinyl sheet flooring containing the phthalate chemical butyl benzyl phthalate (“BBP”) in the State of California  without providing the requisite health hazard warnings. 

As part of the settlement, Mannington agreed not to manufacture any flooring in California after May 15, 2013, unless the flooring contains less than 1,000 parts per million of BBP in any accessible component when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Should Mannington provide written certification that all flooring sold in California after December 15, 2013, and into the future, qualifies as reformulated, Moore agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.  Additionally, in lieu of further fines, Mannington agreed to make a cy pres payment to the Silent Spring Institute, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to identifying the links between exposure to environmental chemicals (including BBP) and reproductive and developmental harm.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $195,000, 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.