Moore v. Tarkett, Inc.

The Honorable Roy O. Chernus of the Marin County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in the complex case Moore v. American Biltrite, et al., on July 11, 2012.  In this enforcement action, citizen enforcer John Moore alleged that the defendant Tarkett, Inc. (“Tarkett”) 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, Tarkett agreed not to sell any flooring in California after July 11, 2012, unless the flooring contains no more than 1,000 parts per million of BBP in any accessible component when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Due to Tarkett’s prompt reformulation of the flooring, Moore agreed to credit a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $75,500, 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.