Vinocur v. Circle Glass LLC

On July 29, 2019, citizen enforcer Laurence Vinocur and settling party Circle Glass LLC (“Circle Glass”) entered into an out-of-court settlement agreement. Vinocur had alleged that Circle Glass sold glass tableware containing the heavy metal lead in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings. 

 

As part of the settlement, Circle Glass agreed not to sell any glass tableware in California after August 31, 2019, unless the tableware is virtually free of lead when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies OR have Proposition 65 warnings provided. Should Circle Glass certify to Vinocur by December 15, 2019 that Circle Glass has met this reformulation standard, Vinocur has agreed to waive a portion of the civil penalty that would otherwise be applied.

 

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of up to $47,500, 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.