Vinocur v. Evenflo Company, Inc.

Citizen enforcer Laurence Vinocur’s allegations against defendant Evenflo Company, Inc. (“Evenflo”) were resolved on November 21, 2013, when the parties executed a Consent Judgment.  In this matter, Vinocur alleged that Evenflo sold padded upholstered car seats containing the flame retardants tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (“TDCPP”) and tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (“TCEP”) in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Evenflo agreed not to sell any car seats in California after March 31, 2014, unless the car seats contain no detectable amount ofTDCPP and TCEP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Additionally, Evenflo agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by November 27, 2013, and instruct them to provide car seats that comply expeditiously.  Car seats currently existing in Evenflo’s inventory must be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Evenflo provide written certification that all car seats sold in California after November 1, 2013 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 Evenflo should provide written certification that all car seats sold in California after March 15, 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 $164,000, 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.