Vinocur v. Diamond Baseball Company, Inc.

The parties executed a Consent Judgment in Vinocur v. Diamond Baseball Company, Inc., on September 26, 2013, which resolved citizen enforcer Laurence Vinocur’s allegations that the defendant Diamond Baseball Company, Inc. (“Diamond”) sold baseballs 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, Diamond agreed not to sell any baseballs in California after thirty days after the Alameda Court approves the Consent Judgment, unless the baseballs contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP in any accessible component when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Additionally, Diamond shall provide its vendors with the reformulation standards as of the Effective Date and instruct them to only provide baseballs that comply with these standards.  Should Diamond provide written certification that all baseballs sold in California after February 1, 2014, qualify as reformulated, Vinocur agreed to credit a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $51,000, 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.