Vinocur v. Active Lifestyle Products & Services, Inc.

On December 15, 2014, the parties executed an out-of-court Settlement Agreement, which resolved the allegations that whistleblower Laurence Vinocur made against settling party Active Lifestyle Products & Services, Inc. (“Active Lifestyle”).  In this matter, Vinocur alleged that Active Lifestyle sold vinyl/PVC folding table tops 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, Active Lifestyle agreed not to sell any vinyl/PVC folding table tops in California after December 15, 2014, unless the table tops contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Should Active Lifestyle provide written certification by December 31, 2014, that all vinyl/PVC folding table tops qualify as reformulated, Vinocur agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied. 

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $33,000 divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to citizen enforcer Vinocur and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.