Vinocur v. Bush Industries, Inc.

Citizen enforcer Laurence Vinocur’s allegations against defendant Bush Industries, Inc. (“Bush”) were resolved on September 25, 2014, when the parties executed a Consent Judgment.  In this matter, Vinocur alleged that Bush sold upholstered chairs with foam padding containing the flame retardant tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (“TDCPP”) in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Bush agreed not to sell any upholstered chairs in California after October 30, 2014, unless the chairs contain no detectable amount of TDCPP and tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (“TCEP”) when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Additionally, Bush agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by September 30, 2014, and instruct them to provide chairs that comply expeditiously.  Chairs currently existing in Bush’s inventory must be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Bush provide written certification that all chairs sold in California after September 30, 2014 qualify as reformulated, Vinocur agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine.  Additionally, Vinocur provided a credit for extending the breadth of reformulation, among other credits available, if Bush should provide written certification that all chairs sold in California after October 30, 2014, contain no detectable amounts of tris(2,3-dibromopropyl)phosphate (“TDBPP”) in addition to satisfying the TCEP and TDCPP requirements.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $80,000, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to whistleblower Vinocur and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.