Moore v. S.P. Richards Company, et al.

The parties executed a Consent Judgment in Moore v. S.P. Richards Company, et al., on March 6, 2013, which resolved citizen enforcer John Moore’s allegations that the defendant S.P. Richards Company (“S.P. Richards”) sold pencil cases/pouches 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, S.P. Richards agreed not to sell the specific pencil cases/pouches identified in the Consent Judgment in California after March 8, 2013, unless the pencil cases/pouches contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP in any accessible component when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Should S.P. Richards comply with these heightened standards by July 1, 2013, and continuing into the future, Moore agreed to credit a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $71,700, 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.